Editing Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (section)

== Mission ==
The X-Ray Timing Explorer (XTE) mission has the primary objective to study the temporal and broad-band spectral phenomena associated with stellar and galactic systems containing compact objects in the energy range 2--200 KeV and in time scales from microseconds to years. The scientific instruments consists of two pointed instruments, the Proportional Counter Array (PCA) and the High-Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE), and the All Sky Monitor (ASM), which scans over 70% of the sky each orbit. All of the XTE observing time were available to the international scientific community through a peer review of submitted proposals. XTE used a new spacecraft design that allows flexible operations through rapid pointing, high data rates, and nearly continuous receipt of data at the Science Operations Center (SOC) at Goddard Space Flight Center via a Multiple Access link to the [[Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System]] (TDRSS). XTE was highly maneuverable with a slew rate of greater than 6° per minute. The PCA/HEXTE could be pointed anywhere in the sky to an accuracy of less than 0.1°, with an aspect knowledge of around 1 [[Minute and second of arc|arcminute]]. Rotatable solar panels enable anti-sunward pointing to coordinate with ground-based night-time observations. Two pointable high-gain antennas maintain nearly continuous communication with the TDRSS. This, together with 1 [[Gigabit|GB]] (approximately four orbits) of on-board solid-state data storage, give added flexibility in scheduling observations.<ref name="Display"/>