The European Space Agency-led International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (Integral) will be launched aboard a Proton booster from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 17 October. Russia is providing the launch free of charge in return for observation time on the Alenia Spazio-built €330 million ($324 million) spacecraft. Integral, which will be the most advanced gamma ray telescope ever built, will provide information on energetic radiation in the universe, together with simultaneous matching data of x-ray and visible light radiation. The gamma ray universe experiences stellar explosions, cosmic collisions and matter being sucked into black holes. Integral will be placed into a 9,000km (5,600ft) by 153,000km, 51¼ Earth orbit.
Source: Flight International
