ISSI-BJ Successfully Held XTP/GRAVITAS International Science Meeting in Beijing
On June 26-27, 2013, the International Space Science Institute Beijing Branch (ISSI-BJ) successfully held the XTP (X-ray Timing and Polarization) /GRAVITAS(General Relativistic Astrophysics Via Timing and Spectroscopy) International Science Meeting at the National Space Science Center (NSSC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
The XTP/GRAVITAS International Science Meeting is first of a series of science meetings at ISSI-BJ. The meeting was convened by Professor ZHANG Shuangnan from the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), CAS, and Professor Kirpal Nandra from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Munich. The technical program was organized by the XTP team of IHEP.
During the two-day meeting, presentations and discussions were given on XTP/GRAVITAS scientific objectives, payload key technologies, possible scenarios of XTP/GRAVITAS merge and other international cooperation possibilities. The interaction between the scientists contributed to define more precisely the science objectives and the overall design of the collaborative project. In general, this meeting is a further step forward towards in-depth international cooperation between China and Europe.
Professor WU Ji, Director General of NSSC, CAS and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of ISSI-BJ, delivered a welcome speech at the opening session.
More than 50 scientists and researchers from worldwide institutes and universities such as MPE, Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology (France), Atomic Energy Commission (France) National Institute of Astrophysics (Italy), Leicester University (UK), Purdue University (USA), University of Geneva (Switzerland), IHEP (CAS), NSSC (CAS), National Astronomical Observatories (CAS), Purple Mountain Observatory (CAS), Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (CAS), China Academy of Space Technology, Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Tongji University and Nanjing University attended the meeting.
The International Space Science Institute Beijing Branch (ISSI-BJ) was jointly established by NSSC and the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland, with support from the International Cooperation Bureau and the Space Science Strategic Project of CAS. It is an advanced research organization to organize studies and provide research environment and facilities to scientists from all over the world. Its main mission is to contribute to the achievement of a deeper understanding of the results from different space missions (current and past), ground based observations and laboratory experiments; to add values of those results and dedicate studies to science and key technologies of future space science missions.
Besides XTP/GRAVITAS, ISSI-BJ will hold three more science meetings on Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry (Space VLBI), Solar Polar Orbit Telescope (SPORT) and Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Thermosphere coupling (MIT) missions this year
