THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP SUPERCONDUCTING QUANTUM INTERFERENCE DEVICE (SQUID) MULTIPLEXER CIRCUITS FOR THE ATHENA SATELLITE MISSION. THE ATHENA MISSION IS LED BY THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA) AND WILL CONSIST OF AN XRAY MIRROR AND TWO INSTRUMENTS A WIDE FIELD IMAGER AND A MICROCALORIMETER IMAGING SPECTROMETER. THE MICROCALORIMETER INSTRUMENT WILL MEASURE THE ENERGIES OF XRAYS EMITTED OR ABSORBED BY WEAK AND EXTENDED ASTROPHYSICAL SOURCES WITH UNPRECEDENTED DETAIL. ATHENA IS SCHEDULED FOR LAUNCH IN THE LATE 2020S AND THE UNITED STATES HAS AGREED TO PARTICIPATE AT A SUBSTANTIAL LEVEL IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MISSION.

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