November 16 , 9am - 10am EST
The X-ray Polarimeter Mission XPoSat
Biswajit Paul (Raman Research Institute)
XPoSat (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite) is a mission dedicated for study of polarisation of cosmic X-ray sources. The X-ray polarisation measurements will be carried out with a Thomson scattering X-ray polarimeter instrument POLIX and simultaneous timing and spectroscopic measurements will be carried out with a co-aligned semiconductor based X-ray detectors system XSPECT. Energy bands of the two X-ray instruments are 8-30 keV for POLIX and 0.8-15.0 for XSEPCT. The polarisation measurement will be performed using anisotropic Thomson scattering of polarized X-rays and this will be enabled by spinning the satellite around the viewing axis of POLIX during the source observations. Being a dedicated X-ray polarisation mission in this unexplored energy band, XPoSat is poised to give us glimpses of a new frontier in high energy astrophysics and also allow many in-depth investigations of astrophysical processes in neutron stars and black hole sources. The instrument designs, some special aspects of the mission, and some of the key scientific issues will be discussed.
April 30, 11am - 12pm EDT
Calibration of IXPE
Wayne Baumgartner, MSFC and Fabio Muleri, INAF-IAPS
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a NASA small explorer class observatory set to launch in November 2021. Extensive calibration of the Detector Units (DU) was performed in Italy, and the IXPE Mirror Module Assemblies (MMAs) were calibrated separately at the MSFC Stray Light Test Facility (SLTF) 100m X-ray beamline to measure their angular resolution, effective area, stray light performance, and focal length. We will present results from the calibration and show that IXPE meets its performance requirements.
April 23, 11am - 12pm EDT
First Results and Calibration of eROSITA
Konrad Dennerl, MPE
eROSITA (‘extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array’), the core instrument on the SRG (‘Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma’) mission, was launched on 2019 July 13, and is observing the sky since 2019 August 26 with high sensitivity at high spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution over a large field of view. The talk will describe how these goals have been achieved, will present first results, and will report on the extensive and often challenging calibration activities performed on ground and in space.
April 16, 11am - 12pm EDT
Planning in-flight calibration for XRISM
Eric Miller, MIT
The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) will launch within the next few years, flying the Resolve high-resolution X-ray spectrometer and the Xtend wide-field X-ray imager. The unprecedented combination of spectral resolution, spectral coverage, and effective area provided by these instruments poses challenges to effective calibration. I will present the current in-flight calibration plan for XRISM, which builds on lessons learned from Hitomi and the IACHEC to plan a thorough and flexible calibration campaign.