  The SRG observatory, equipped with the X-ray telescopes Mikhail Pavlinsky
ART-XC and eROSITA, was launched by Roscosmos to the L2 point on July 13, 2019.
The launch was carried out from Baikonur by a Proton-M rocket with a DM-03
upper stage. The German telescope eROSITA was installed on SRG under agreement
between Roskosmos and DLR. In December 2019, SRG started to scan the celestial
sphere in order to obtain X-ray maps of the entire sky in several energy bands
(from 0.3 to 8 keV, eROSITA, and from 4 to 30 keV, ART-XC). By mid-December
2020, the second full-sky scan had been completed. Over 4 years, 8 independent
maps of the sky will be obtained. Their sum will reveal more than three million
quasars and over one hundred thousand galaxy clusters and groups. The
availability of 8 sky maps will enable monitoring of long-term variability
(every six months) of a huge number of extragalactic and Galactic X-ray
sources, including hundreds of thousands of stars. Rotation of the satellite
around the axis directed toward the Sun with a period of 4 hours makes it
possible to track faster variability of bright X-ray sources. The chosen
scanning strategy leads to the formation of deep survey zones near both
ecliptic poles. We present sky maps obtained by the telescopes aboard SRG
during the first scan of the sky and a number of results of deep observations
performed during the flight to L2, demonstrating the capabilities of the
Observatory in imaging, spectroscopy and timing. In December 2023 the
Observatory will switch for at least two years to observations of the most
interesting sources in the sky in triaxial orientation mode and deep scanning
of selected fields with an area of up to 150 sq. deg. These modes of operation
were tested during the Performance Verification phase. Every day, SRG data are
dumped onto the largest antennae of the Russian Deep Space Network in Bear
Lakes and near Ussuriysk.
