The X-Ray Spectrometer (XRS) has been designed to provide the Suzaku Observatory with non-dispersive, high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy. As designed, the instrument covers the energy range 0.3 to 12 keV, which encompasses the most diagnostically rich part of the X-ray band. The sensor consists of a 32-channel array of X-ray microcalorimeters, each with an energy resolution of about 6 eV. The very low temperature required for operation of the array (60 mK) is provided by a four-stage cooling system containing a single-stage adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator, a superfluid-helium cryostat, a solid-neon dewar, and a single-stage, Stirling-cycle cooler. The Suzaku/XRS is the first orbiting X-ray microcalorimeter spectrometer and was designed to last more than three years in orbit. The early verification phase of the mission demonstrated that the instrument worked properly and that the cryogen consumption rate was low enough to ensure a mission lifetime exceeding 3 years. However, the liquid-He cryogen was completely vaporized two weeks after opening the dewar guard vacuum vent. The problem has been traced to inadequate venting of the dewar He and Ne gases out of the spacecraft and into space. In this paper we present the design and ground testing of the XRS instrument, and then describe the in-flight performance. An energy resolution of 6 eV was achieved during pre-launch tests and a resolution of 7 eV was obtained in orbit. The slight degradation is due to the effects of cosmic rays.
We report results of a recently-completed pre-Formulation Phase study of SPIRIT, a candidate NASA Origins Probe mission. SPIRIT is a spatial and spectral interferometer with an operating wavelength range 25 -400 µm. SPIRIT will provide sub-arcsecond resolution images and spectra with resolution R = 3000 in a 1 arcmin field of view to accomplish three primary scientific objectives: (1) Learn how planetary systems form from protostellar disks, and how they acquire their inhomogeneous composition; (2) characterize the family of extrasolar planetary systems by imaging the structure in debris disks to understand how and where planets of different types form; and (3) learn how high-redshift galaxies formed and merged to form the present-day population of galaxies. Observations with SPIRIT will be complementary to those of the James Webb Space Telescope and the ground-based Atacama Large Millimeter Array. All three observatories could be operational contemporaneously.
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