The Italian Space Agency’s Satellite per Astronomia X (SAX) launched April 30, 1996. Run in collaboration with the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programs and nicknamed Beppo after Italian physicist Giuseppe Occhialini, BeppoSAX was commissioned with providing unprecedented spectral coverage in X-ray. This sensitivity allowed the satellite to study weak X-ray sources in new depth and discover transient X-ray events. Among other successes, the mission provided monitoring of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) at a level never before achieved and the first arc-minute position determinations of GRBs. By March 2002, the mission’s data had already resulted in approximately 1,500 scientific publications.
Budget constraints contributed to the Italian Space Agency scaling back BeppoSAX’s operations beginning in 2000, and by April 2002, it was permanently shut down. On April 29, 2003, BeppoSAX reentered the atmosphere, with any pieces that didn’t burn up on reentry falling into the Pacific Ocean.
