Intro: eROSITA (extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array) is the primary instrument on the Russian Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission. eROSITA is currently being built, assembled and tested under the leadership of the Max-Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics (MPE). In the first four years of scientific operation after its launch, foreseen for the Q3 2014, eROSITA will perform a deep survey of the entire X-ray sky. In the soft X-ray band (0.5-2 keV), this will be about 20 times more sensitive than the ROSAT all sky survey, while in the hard band (2-10 keV) it will provide the first ever true imaging survey of the sky at those energies.
The eROSITA telescope structure comes together: All mechanical hardware is now in place and the integration of the telescope structure is now completed. In the meantime, the preparation is ongoing of the complete Qualification Module (QM) test campaign, planned for October/November 2012.
Mirrors and Mirror Modules tests: ~70% of all mirror shells have now been integrated, and the integration of the X-ray baffles into the mirror modules is also underway. Tests of the mirror modules proceed at full speed in the PANTER facility in Munich. So far, all X-ray tests of partially-integrated modules gave results within the desired specifications (on-axis HEW<15").
Detectors: The eROSITA CCDs have been produced, tested and are ready for integration. The CAMEX readout ASIC is ready for integration, too. After assembly, the performance of the engineering model of the eROSITA detector has been extensively tested. We measured a FWHM for the Mn-Ka line at 5.9 keV of ~132 eV, which fulfills the project specification. The mean detector read noise has a value of 2.6 electrons ENC rms, which is a factor of two better compared with the XMM-Newton PNCCD.
Science Preparation: Both in Germany and in Russia, science teams are working to prepare the scientific exploitation of the eROSITA data. Working groups have been established with the aim of coordinating these activities in various fields of research. The eROSITA Science Book: "Mapping the structure of the Energetic Universe" has now been published, and is available at arxiv.org/abs/1209.3114.
For more information on eROSITA, visit www.mpe.mpg.de/eROSITA.