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XMM-Newton telescope tests. Structural and thermal tests being performed on the European Space Agency's (ESA's) X-ray Multi-Mirror telescope (XMM) satellite. This telescope was built and tested from March 1997 to September 1999. It is designed to study high-energy phenomena such as supernovae and black holes. It consists of three separate X-ray telescopes (three openings at upper centre), and a smaller optical telescope to aid in data interpretation. The detection equipment is at the other end of the telescope barrels. The telescope was successfully launched in December 1999, and the original mission lifetime of two years was later extended to 2010. Photographed at ESTEC, the Netherlands. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/ESA/VAN DER GEEST/EURELIOS)