The International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory was launched on 17
October 2002 from Baikonur (Kazahhstan). Since then, the satellite has
performed almost 2300 revolutions around the Earth observing the sky in
the opitcal, X-rays and soft and hard gamma-rays.
INTEGRAL has, apart from its ability to do high-resolution gamma-ray
spectroscopy and wide-field X-/gamma-ray imaging, two unique
capabilities: a very efficient coverage of the whole sky and rapid
reaction to Target of Opportunity observations. Thanks to this, INTEGRAL
plays a key role in the recently established multi-messenger
astrophysics, providing gamma-ray observations coincident, for example,
with gravitational wave and ultra-high energy neutrino signals.
In addition to multi-messenger astrophysics, INTEGRAL continues to
provide a unique science return. Key scientific results over the past 18
years include measurements of decay lines of radioactive isotopes from
extragalactic supernovae, the first large-scale map of the
electron-positron annihilation in the central region of our Galaxy, the
discovery of over 700 new high-energy sources, as well as the detection of
gamma-ray polarisation from GRBs and bright galactic sources.
Following an anomaly in May 2020, a new observing strategy to minimise
the accumulation of angular momentum without thruster usage has been
implemented (see (see INTEGRAL POM
June
2020 and
October
2020).
This new observing strategy has allowed to continue nominal operations.
After 18 years in space, all instruments on board INTEGRAL are still in
good shape and ready to continue providing exciting results. We are
looking forward to many more!
A conference to review the most significant results obtained during 18
years of operations was originally planned for October 2020 and has been
moved to May 2021. More details in
https://indico.ict.inaf.it/event/1001/overview.
Many of the exciting results have been promoted as
INTEGRAL
Picture of the Month. To celebrate INTEGRAL's operational adulthood,
all POMs are used to make a collage to build the image of INTEGRAL in
space. Happy 18-year anniversary!
