munich

Representatives of national space agencies involved in the Spectrum X collaboration, an ambitious and long-delayed X-ray astronomy mission, will meet in Moscow next week to discuss prospects for the project, now due for launch in 2001.

Space agencies have already built instruments for the mission, which was conceived by the former Soviet Academy of Sciences, for a mid-1990s launch.

But the building of the main spacecraft, by Russia's satellite manufacturer Lavochkin Association, has never been completed. The problem is believed to be financial.

“Space agencies have been frustrated by unclear pictures of what is happening,” says Paul Merdin of the British National Space Centre. Britain has paid £13 million (US$21 million) towards the cost of JET-X (Joint European Telescope). But, like other Spectrum X instruments, JET-X has been sitting in storage for several years.

Scientists hope the Moscow meeting will restore confidence that the new launch date of 2001 will be met. Further delays, they fear, may render Spectrum X's scientific capabilities outdated, given that three major X-ray astronomy missions are to be launched by Europe, the United States and Japan in the coming months.