A European gamma-ray observatory mission that is the most sensitive of its type ever launched. A joint Russia and United States mission, it launched on 17 October 2002 and is detecting some of the most energetic radiation that comes from space. The craft follows a highly eccentric orbit around the Earth so that for most of the time it is above an altitude of 40 000 kilometres, well outside Earth's radiation belts, to avoid background radiation effects. In November 2016, ESA extended its mission until the end of 2018.
INTEGRAL undertakes spectroscopy and imaging of gamma-ray sources in the energy range 15 keV to 10 MeV, while an X-ray monitor and an optical camera help identify sources. Its targets include supernovae and the elements formed by them, gamma-ray bursts, and supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies. In October 2017, INTEGRAL observations played a critical role in linking gravitational waves to the collision of two neutron stars.