The status of the X-ray mirror production for the ESA XMM spacecraft

The High Throughput X-ray Spectroscopy Mission XMM is a ''Cornerstone'' Project in the ESA long term Programme for Space Science. This observatory has at its heart three heavily nested Welter 1 grazing incidence X-ray telescopes which will provide a large collecting area (1600 cm(2) each at 1.5 keV). This optical system has a spatial resolution of 20-30 arcsec and when coupled with reflection grating spectrometers and X-ray CCD cameras, it will provide a major advance in astrophysics by the end of the century. In this paper, we first present the design of the telescope and then describe the manufacturing and the integration processes of the telescope with the emphasis on the production of the x-ray mirrors. We then concentrate on the technical problems and the solutions found for the production of these mirrors. Last but not least, the results achieved on the Qualification Model of the XMM telescope are also presented.