The Space Missions WAXS/WFXT and SWIFT: New Targets for the VLT

Abstract

At OAB we were, during the year 1998, deeply involved in planning two important space missions for which very large ground based telescopes, VLT in particular, would play a very large and important role in the optical followup. The study of the first mission, Wide Angle X-ray Survey using a Wide Field X-ray Telescope, was coordinated by the Observatory of Brera, involved mainly Italian industries and resulted in a proposal to the Italian Space Agency under the Small Satellite Program. The second mission, SWIFT, has been coordinated and directed by the Goddard Space Flight Center and resulted in the submission of a proposal to NASA under the MIDEX program. The science goal of this mission is the detection and study of the Gamma-ray bursts.