The Astronomical Roentgen Telescope X-ray Concentrator (ART-XC) is a medium X-ray instrument with operating energy range 4-30 keV which will be launched onboard the Spectrum Roentgen Gamma (SRG) mission. ART-XC consists of seven co-aligned mirror modules coupled with seven focal plane CdTe double-sided strip detectors. The mirror modules were fabricated and calibrated at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The Russian Space Research Institute (IKI) developed and tested the X-ray detectors. Flight mirror modules and detector units were integrated into the ART-XC instrument in 2016. For more detailed studies we have used the spare mirror module and spare detector unit. We present some results of the on-ground calibration of the ART-XC spare detector unit without a mirror system and estimation of the detector efficiency.
M. Pavlinsky, V. Levin, V. Akimov, A. Krivchenko, A. Rotin, M. Kuznetsova, I. Lapshov, A. Tkachenko, R. Krivonos, N. Semena, M. Buntov, A. Glushenko, V. Arefiev, A. Yaskovich, S. Grebenev, S. Sazonov, A. Lutovinov, S. Molkov, D. Serbinov, M. Kudelin, T. Drozdova, S. Voronkov, R. Sunyaev, E. Churazov, M. Gilfanov, B. Ramsey, S. O'Dell, J. Kolodziejczak, V. Zavlin, D. Swartz
ART-XC is an X-ray grazing incidence mirror telescopes array onboard the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission, that is currently scheduled for launch in March 2019. This instrument was developed by the Space Research Institute (IKI) and the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Experimental Physics (VNIIEF). The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed and fabricated flight X-ray mirror modules. Each mirror module is aligned with a focal plane CdTe double-sided strip detector which will operate over the energy range of 4−30 keV, with an angular resolution of <1′, a field of view of ~0.3 deg2 in double reflection and an expected energy resolution of about 9% at 14 keV. The ART-XC instrument will be used to perform an all-sky survey simultaneously with the other instrument of the SRG mission, eROSITA, operational in a softer energy range 0.3-10 keV. We present an overview of the ARTXC/SRG instrument and an update on the current status of the project.
Spectrum Roentgen Gamma (SRG) is an X-ray astrophysical observatory, developed by Russia in collaboration with Germany. The mission will be launched in 2017 from Baikonur and placed in a 6-month-period halo orbit around L2. The scientific payload consists of two independent telescope arrays – a soft-x-ray survey instrument, eROSITA, being provided by Germany and a medium-x-ray-energy survey instrument ART-XC being developed by Russia. ART-XC will consist of seven independent, but co-aligned, telescope modules. The ART-XC flight mirror modules have been developed and fabricated at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Each mirror module will be aligned with a focal plane CdTe double-sided strip detector which will operate over the energy range of 6−30 keV, with an angular resolution of <1′, a field of view of ~34′ and an expected energy resolution of about 12% at 14 keV. The current status of the ART-XC/SRG instrument is presented here.
Spectrum Roentgen Gamma (SRG) is an X-ray astrophysical observatory, developed by Russia in collaboration with Germany. The mission will be launched in beginning 2017 from Baikonur and placed in a 6-month-period halo orbit around L2. The scientific payload consists of two independent telescopes – a soft-x-ray survey instrument, eROSITA, being provided by Germany and a medium-x-ray-energy survey instrument ART-XC being developed by Russia. ART-XC will consist of seven independent, but co-aligned, telescope modules. The ART-XC flight mirror modules has been developed and fabricated at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Each mirror module will be aligned with a focal plane CdTe double-sided strip detector which will operate over the energy range of 6−30 keV, with an angular resolution of <1′, a field of view of ~34′ and an expected energy resolution of about 12% at 14 keV. The current status of the ART-XC/SRG instrument will be present.
Spectrum Roentgen Gamma (SRG) is an X-ray astrophysical observatory, developed by Russia in collaboration with Germany. The mission will be launched in March 2016 from Baikonur, by a Zenit rocket with a Fregat booster and placed in a 6-month-period halo orbit around L2. The scientific payload consists of two independent telescopes – a softx- ray survey instrument, eROSITA, being provided by Germany and a medium-x-ray-energy survey instrument ART-XC being developed by Russia. ART-XC will consist of seven independent, but co-aligned, telescope modules. The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is fabricating the flight mirror modules for the ART-XC/SRG. Each mirror module will be aligned with a focal plane CdTe double-sided strip detector which will operate over the energy range of 6−30 keV, with an angular resolution of <1′, a field of view of ~34′ and an expected energy resolution of about 10% at 14 keV.
Spectrum Roentgen Gamma (SRG) is an X-ray astrophysical observatory, developed by Russia in collaboration with Germany. The mission will be launched in 2014 from Baikonur, by a Zenit rocket with a Fregat booster and placed in a 6-month-period halo orbit around L2. The scientific payload consists of two independent telescopes – a soft-x-ray survey instrument, eROSITA, being provided by Germany and a medium-x-ray-energy survey instrument ART-XC being developed by Russia. ART-XC will consist of seven independent, but co-aligned, telescope modules with seven corresponding cadmium-telluride focal plane detectors. Each will operate over the approximate energy range of 6−30 keV, with an angular resolution of <1′, a field of view of ~30' and an energy resolution about 10% at 14 keV. The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) will fabricate some of the mirror modules, to complement others fabricated by VNIIEF in Russia.
The Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma mission will be launched in the 2012 year into a L2 orbit with Soyuz launcher and
Fregat buster from Baikonur. The mission will conduct all-sky survey with X-ray mirror telescopes eROSITA and
ART-XC up to 11 keV. It will allow detection of about 100 thousand clusters of galaxies and discovery large scale
Universe structure. It will also discover all obscured accreting Black Holes in nearby galaxies and many (about
3 millions) new distant AGN. Then it is planned to observe dedicated sky regions with high sensitivity and thereafter to
perform follow-up pointed observations of selected sources.
The ART-XC instrument is an X-ray grazing-incidence telescope system in an ABRIXAS-type optical configuration
optimized for the survey observational mode of the Spectrum-RG astrophysical mission which is scheduled to be
launched in 2011. ART-XC has two units, each equipped with four identical X-ray multi-shell mirror modules. The
optical axes of the individual mirror modules are not parallel but are separated by several degrees to permit the four
modules to share a single CCD focal plane detector, 1/4 of the area each. The 450-micron-thick pnCCD (similar to the
adjacent eROSITA telescope detector) will allow the detection of
X-ray photons up to 15 keV. The field of view of the
individual mirror module is about 18×18 arcminutes2 and the sensitivity of the ART-XC system for 4 years of survey
will be better than 10-12 erg s-1 cm-2 over the 4-12 keV energy band. This will allow the ART-XC instrument to discover
several thousands new AGNs.
The hard X-ray telescope-concentrator ART-XC on board the Spectrum-X-Gamma X-ray astrophysical observatory
(launching in 2011) is one of the main instruments of the mission. The instrument will be used for an all-sky survey and
then for pointed observations which are planned for the first four and the next three years of the Mission, respectively.
ART-XC will be sensitive in the 4-30 keV energy range and will have an effective area of several hundred square
centimeters at 10 keV. It will have a field of view of about ~28 arcmin, angular resolution better than 1 arcmin and will
be an order of magnitude more sensitive than the current generation of collimated instruments and coded mask telescopes
in the survey mode and a two or three orders of magnitude more sensitive in the pointing mode. With its high sensitivity
in the hard X-ray band and good imaging capabilities, ART-XC will extend the operating energy range of the
observatory (complementing the capabilities of the primary science instrument eROSITA), thus significantly enhancing
the mission both in the all-sky survey over the energy band 4-10 keV and, especially, in pointed observations over the
energy band 4-30 keV. During the 4-year survey, this ART-XC would detect more than ~104 sources over 4-10 keV. For
a 105 second pointed observation, the telescope will provide better than 10 microCrab sensitivity in the 4-20 keV energy
range.
Hard X-ray concentrators based on glass poly-capillary lenses (Kumakhov optics) can bring new flavor for the next generation of astrophysical instruments. We discuss the advantage of such a concentrator for missions such as new Spectrum-X-Gamma, for both scanning and pointing observational modes. Even though an X-ray concentrator has no true imaging capabilities and therefore can not compete with grazing incident mirror instruments, it could be quite useful. For pointing observations the instrument with large area poly-capillary glass concentrator combined with small CZT detector sensitive in the 5-80 keV energy range would significantly improve the faint point sources spectroscopy in hard X-rays. This is of particular interest due to recent INTEGRAL and Swift discovery of the large number of obscured AGNs and comparison of their spectra with the spectrum of the cosmic hard X-ray background. The other important areas to be explored are detection of the Ti-44 line in the supernova remnants and detailed study of high-energy hyrolines in the spectra of X-ray pulsars. The expected parameters of the instrument show that it could be an order of magnitude more sensitive compared to standard coded aperture telescopes. We also explore the potentials of the X-ray concentrator in the scanning mode during the survey phase of the mission.
A medium size satellite will be launched in the 2010-2011 timeframe into a 600 km equatorial (less than or equal to 5 deg.) orbit from
Kourou or into a less than or equal to 30 deg. orbit from Baikonur as a fallback option. The payload includes eROSITA (extended ROentgen
Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array, MPE, Germany) with 7 Wolter-type telescopes, the wide field X-ray monitor
Lobster (LU, UK), the X-ray concentrator based on Kumakhov optics ART or coded-mask X-ray telescopes as a fallback
(IKI, Russia) and GRB detector (Russian consortium). High particle background on high apogee orbits severely affects
the capabilities of X-ray telescopes to study diffuse emission. For new baseline configuration of the SRG mission a low
earth orbit was selected to circumvent this limitation. The mission will conduct the first all-sky survey with an imaging
telescope in the 2-12 keV band to discover the hidden population of several hundred thousand obscured supermassive
black holes and the first all-sky imaging X-ray time variability survey. In addition to the all-sky surveys it is foreseen to
observe the extragalactic sky with high sensitivity to detect 50 to 100 thousand clusters of galaxies and thereafter to do
follow-up pointed observations of selected sources, in order to investigate the nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
The new SRG mission would thus be a highly significant scientific and technological step beyond Chandra/XMM-Newton
and would provide important and timely inputs for the next generation of giant X-ray observatories like
XEUS/Con-X planned for the 2015-2025 horizon.
The MOnitoring X-ray Experiment (MOXE) is an X-ray all-sky monitor to be launched on the Russian Spectrum-X-Gamma satellite. It will monitor several hundred X-ray sources on a daily basis, and will be the first instrument to monitor most of the X-ray sky most of the time. MOXE will alert users of more sensitive instruments on Russia's giant high energy astrophysics observatory and of other instruments to transient activity. MOXE consists of an array of 6 X-ray pinhole cameras, sensitive from 2 to 25 keV, which views 4(pi) steradians (except for a 20 degree(s) X 80 degree(s) patch which includes the Sun). The pinhole apertures of 0.625 X 2.556 cm2 imply an angular resolution of 2 degree(s).4 X 9 degree(s).7 (FWHM on-axis). The flight instrument will mass approximately 118 kg and draw 38 Watts. For a non-focussing all-sky instrument that is limited by sky background, the limiting sensitivity is a function only of detector area. MOXE will, for a 24 hrs exposure, have a sensitivity of approximately 2 mCrab. MOXE distinguishes itself with respect to other all-sky monitors in its high duty cycle, thus having unprecedented sensitivity to transient phenomena with time scales between minutes and hours.
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