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In-Flight Performance of the Soft X-Ray Spectrometer Detector System on ASTRO-HThe SXS instrument was launched aboard the Astro-H observatory on February 17, 2016. The SXS spectrometer is based on a high sensitivity x-ray calorimeter detector system that has been successfully deployed in many ground and sub-orbital spectrometers. The instrument was to provide essential diagnostics for nearly every class of x-ray emitting objects from the atmosphere of Jupiter to the outskirts of galaxy clusters, without degradation for spatially extended objects. The SXS detector system consisted of a 36-pixel cryogenic microcalorimeter array operated at a heat sink temperature of 50 mK. In pre-flight testing, the detector system demonstrated a resolving power of better than 1300 at 6 keV with a simultaneous band-pass from below 0.3 keV to above 12 keV with a timing precision better than 100 microsecond. In addition, a solid-state anti-coincidence detector was placed directly behind the detector array for background suppression. The detector error budget included the measured interference from the SXS cooling system and the spacecraft. Additional margin for on-orbit gain-stability, and on-orbit spacecraft interference were also included predicting an on-orbit performance that meets or exceeds the 7 eV FWHM at 6 keV requirement. The actual on-orbit spectral resolution was better than 5 eV FWHM at 6 keV, easily satisfying the instrument requirement. Here we discuss the actual on-orbit performance of the SXS detector system and compare this to performance in pre-flight testing and the on-orbit predictions. We will also discuss the on-orbit gain stability, additional on-orbit interference, and measurements of the on-orbit background.
Document ID
20170006123
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Porter, Frederick S.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Boyce, Kevin R.
(NASA Goddard Inst. for Space Studies New York, NY United States)
Chiao, Meng P.
(Alcyon Technical Services-JV, Inc. Huntsville, AL, United States)
Eckart, Megan E.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Fujimoto, Ryuichi
(Kanazawa Univ. Japan)
Ishisaki, Yoshitaka
(Tokyo Metropolitan Univ. Tokyo, Japan)
Kelley, Richard L.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Kilbourne, Carolina A.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Leutenegger, Maurice A.
(Maryland Univ. Baltimore County Baltimore, MD, United States)
McCammon, Dan
(Wisconsin Univ. Madison, WI, United States)
Mitsuda, Kazuhisa
(Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Sagamihara, Japan)
Sato, Kosuke
(Tokyo Univ. of Science Tokyo, Japan)
Seta, Hiromi
(Tokyo Metropolitan Univ. Tokyo, Japan)
Sawada, Makoto
(Gakuin Univ. Sagamihara, Japan)
Sneiderman, Gary A.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Szymkowiak, Andrew E.
(Yale Univ. New Haven, CT, United States)
Takei, Yoh
(Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Sagamihara, Japan)
Tashiro, Makoto S.
(Saitama Univ. Saitama, Japan)
Tsujimoto, Masahiro
(Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Sagamihara, Japan)
Watanabe, Tomomi
(ADNET Systems, Inc. Lanham, MD, United States)
Yamada, Shinya
(Tokyo Metropolitan Univ. Tokyo, Japan)
Date Acquired
July 6, 2017
Publication Date
July 19, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: SPIE Proceedings
Publisher: SPIE
Volume: 9905
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN43896
Meeting Information
Meeting: Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray
Location: Edinburgh
Country: United Kingdom
Start Date: June 26, 2016
End Date: July 1, 2016
Sponsors: International Society for Optical Engineering
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG15CR66C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
X-ray astrophysics
X-ray detectors
X-ray Spectroscopy

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