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The chemical and physical properties of interstellar dust in the densestregions of the Galaxy are still not well understood. X-rays provide a powerfulprobe since they can penetrate gas and dust over a wide range of columndensities (up to $10^{24}\ \rm{cm}^{-2}$). The interaction (scattering andabsorption) with the medium imprints spectral signatures that reflect theindividual atoms which constitute the gas, molecule, or solid. In this work weinvestigate the ability of high resolution X-ray spectroscopy to probe theproperties of cosmic grains containing iron. Although iron is heavily depletedinto interstellar dust, the nature of the Fe-bearing grains is still largelyuncertain. In our analysis we use iron K-edge synchrotron data of mineralslikely present in the ISM dust taken at the European Synchrotron RadiationFacility. We explore the prospects of determining the chemical composition andthe size of astrophysical dust in the Galactic centre and in molecular cloudswith future X-ray missions. The energy resolution and the effective area of thepresent X-ray telescopes are not sufficient to detect and study the Fe K-edge,even for bright X-ray sources. From the analysis of the extinction crosssections of our dust models implemented in the spectral fitting program SPEX,the Fe K-edge is promising for investigating both the chemistry and the sizedistribution of the interstellar dust. We find that the chemical compositionregulates the X-ray absorption fine structures in the post edge region, whereasthe scattering feature in the pre-edge is sensitive to the mean grain size.Finally, we note that the Fe K-edge is insensitive to other dust properties,such as the porosity and the geometry of the dust.

Investigating the interstellar dust through the Fe K-edge