The INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) is a space telescope for observing gamma rays of energies up to 8 MeV.

It was launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) into Earth orbit in 2002, and is designed to provide imaging and spectroscopy of cosmic sources.

Photons in INTEGRAL's energy range are emitted by relativistic and supra-thermal[clarification needed] particles in violent sources, radioactivity from unstable isotopes produced during nucleosynthesis, X-ray binaries, and astronomical transients of all types, including gamma-ray bursts.

The spacecraft's instruments have very wide fields of view, which is particularly useful for detecting gamma-ray emission from transient sources as they can continuously monitor large parts of the sky.

INTEGRAL is an ESA mission with additional contributions from European member states including Italy, France, Germany, and Spain.

Cooperation partners are the Russian Space Agency with IKI (military CP Command Punkt KW) and NASA.

[4][5] Radiation more energetic than optical light, such as ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays, cannot penetrate Earth's atmosphere, and direct observations must be made from space.

INTEGRAL is an observatory, scientists can propose for observing time of their desired target regions, data are public after a proprietary period of up to one year.

[4][5] In March 2023, INTEGRAL science operations were extended to the end of 2024, which will be followed by a two-year post-operations phase and further monitoring of the spacecraft until its estimated reentry in February 2029.

However, the denser instruments used for gamma rays and hard X-rays make INTEGRAL the heaviest scientific payload ever flown by ESA.

Its all-sky coverage and sensitivity make it a natural gamma-ray burst detector, and a valued component of the IPN (InterPlanetary Network).

It acts as both a framing aid, and can note the activity and state of some brighter targets, e.g. it had been useful to monitor supernova light over months from SN2014J.

INTEGRAL contributes to multi-messenger astronomy, detecting gamma rays from the first merger of two neutron stars observed in gravitational waves, and from a fast radio burst.