The Relativistic Astrophysics Explorer: A New Mission for X-Ray Timing

The great success of the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) has given us a new probe to study strong gravitational fields and to measure the physical properties of black holes and neutron stars. Here, we describe a “next-generation” x-ray timing mission, the Relativistic Astrophysics Explorer (RAE), designed to fit within the envelope of a “medium-sized” mission. The main instruments will be a narrow-field x-ray detector array with an area of at least ten times that of RXTE, and a wide-field x-ray monitor with good sensitivity and few arcminute position resolution. We describe the design of the instruments and the science which will be possible with a factor of ten increase in collecting area.