Einstein Probe (EP) monitors the X-ray sky with unprecedented large field of view and sensitivity to discover and characterise high-energy transients and variability in soft X-rays.

Purpose of this page

This page targets the European science community at large, providing information about Einstein Probe. For any questions not found here, please contact the ESA Project Scientist. 

Recent Science Highlight

EP Detects Unprecedented Cosmic Event: A Likely Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Shredding a White Dwarf

Facts

• EP is an ESA mission of opportunity led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in collaboration with the German Max Planck Institute für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) and the French Centro Nacional de Estudios Espaciales (CNES).
• EP was launched on 9 January 2024, at 07:03 UTC by a Long March 2C rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China.
• EP consists of two instruments, the Lobster Eye Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT) and two Followup X-ray Telescopes (FXT).
• ESA contributions:
  • Support for the testing and calibrating of the detectors and optical elements of the WXT,
  • Develop and test the mirror assembly and electron diverter of the FXT
  • ESA’s ground stations to help download data from the spacecraft.

More information can be found in the Mission Description. 

Useful information

• Refereed publications based on Einstein Probe data can be found in this ADS Library
• Public EP Data can be obtained from:
  • National Astronomical Data Centre (NADC) in China
    • Need to register via https://oauth.china-vo.org/user/register
  • National Space Science Data Centre (NSSDC) in China
  • ESA's Einstein Probe Science Archive (EPSA) within the Astronomy Multimission Archive. The ESA mirror archive contains public level 2 (calibrated events files) and level 3 (images, spectra, light curves) data. Level 1 (uncalibrated entry-level) data and proprietary data can only be obtained from the NSSDC archive. For details see EPSA Documentation.
• Data Analysis:
  • WXT: Analysis Threads
  • FXT : Download tools
• Helpdesk

Contact

Contact the ESA Project Scientist.

Latest News

General at National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Opening of Data Archives

11 December 2025 EP Science Data are proprietary for a period of one year after which they shall be made publicly available. Access to data is descibed here: There are two institutes in China operating archive interfaces, the National Astronomical Data Centre (NADC) and the​​​​​​​ National Space Science Data Centre (NSSDC). ESA has now opened the Einstein Probe Science Archive (EPSA) containing public, calibrated high-level data, i.e., calibrated data covering level 2 (events files) and level 3 (images, spectra, light curves); for details of ESA mirror archive, see EPSA Documentation.

Data in EPSA are calibrated with the last major calibration release. If data need to be processed with the latest calibration version, level 1 data must be obtained from the NADC or NSSDC archives and processed with the EP Data Analysis software. Further, PIs of proprietary data need to obtain their data from the NADC archive. At this time, only the FXT data are released while the WXT are planned to be released early 2026.

See also Archive Newsitem in China

Launch of ESA webpages of Einstein Probe

19 July 2022 These ESA webpages with information about Einstein Probe see their first light.