The Palermo XACT facility: a new 35 m long soft x-ray beam-line for the development and calibration of next-generation x-ray observatories

The X-ray Astronomy Calibration and Testing (XACT) facility of the Instituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) at Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo has recently undergone a major upgrade with the design and construction of a 35 meter long vacuum beam-line operating in the soft X-rays (0.1-20 keV) and the addition of new hardware to meet the requirements for testing and calibration of next generation X-ray missions. We report on the present configuration of the facility and briefly survey the range of its applications.