Ferrando, P.P.FerrandoArnaud, M.M.ArnaudBriel, U.U.BrielGiommi, PaoloPaoloGiommi2020-09-172020-09-172006-07-01https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13025/694Space Telescopes and Instrumentation II Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray. Edited by Turner, Martin J. L.; Hasinger, Gnther. Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 6266, pp. 62660F (2006).Simbol-X is a hard X-ray mission, operating in the ~ 0.5-80 keV range, proposed as a collaboration between the French and Italian space agencies with participation of German laboratories for a launch in 2013. Relying on two spacecraft in a formation flying configuration, Simbol-X uses for the first time a 20-30 m focal length X-ray mirror to focus X-rays with energy above 10 keV, resulting in over two orders of magnitude improvement in angular resolution and sensitivity in the hard X-ray range with respect to non-focusing techniques. The Simbol-X revolutionary instrumental capabilities will allow us to elucidate outstanding questions in high energy astrophysics such as those related to black-holes accretion physics and census, and to particle acceleration mechanisms, which are the prime science objectives of the mission. After having undergone a thorough assessment study performed by CNES in the context of a selection of a formation flight scientific mission, Simbol-X has been selected for a phase A study to be jointly conducted by CNES and ASI. The mission science objectives, the current status of the instrumentation and mission design are presented in this paper.10.1117/12.673266http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006SPIE.6266E..11F2006SPIE.6266E..11F