The Einstein Probe Mission

The Einstein Probe (EP) is a mission designed to monitor the sky in the soft X-ray band. It will perform systematic surveys and characterization of high-energy transients and monitoring of variable objects at unprecedented sensitivity and monitoring cadences. It has a large instantaneous field-of-view (3600 sq. deg.) that is realized via the lobster-eye micro-pore X-ray focusing optics. EP also carries a conventional X-ray focusing telescope with a larger effective area to perform follow-up observations and precise positioning of newly discovered transients. Alerts for transient objects will be issued publicly and timely. The scientific goals of EP are concerned with discovering faint, distant, or rare types of high-energy transients and variable sources. Within the confines of a modest-sized mission, EP will cover a wide range of scientific topics, from the nearby to high-redshift Universe. The Einstein Probe is a mission of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and also an international collaborative project. This paper presents the background, scientific objectives, and the mission design including the micro-pore optics and CMOS technologies adopted, the instruments and their expected performance, and the mission profile. The development status of the project is also presented.