The structural design and thermo-mechanical performance of the FXT for the EP mission

• Published in: Experimental astronomy Vol. 55; no. 3; pp. 639 - 659
• Main Authors: Wang, Juan, Eder, Josef, Ma, Jia, Yang, YanJi, Cui, WeiWei, Yang, XiongTao, Duan, XuLiang, Feng, JianChao, Zhang, XiaoFeng, Lu, Bing, Lv, He, Sun, WenXin, Lu, FangJun, Han, DaWei, Wang, YuSa, Chen, Tianxiang, Zhang, Qian, Bi, Xiyan, Li, DongTai, Zhang, JiaWei, Friedrich, Peter, Hartmann, Katinka, Keereman, Arnoud, Santovincenzo, Andrea, Vernani, Dervis, Bianucci, Giovanni, Valsecchi, Giuseppe, Tang, QingJun, Chen, HouLei, Chen, Yong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Assembly; Astronomy; Chemistry and Earth Sciences; Computer Science; Geometrical optics; Mechanical properties; Observations and Techniques; Original Article; Payloads; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Spacecraft contamination; Statistics for Engineering; Structural design; X ray optics; X ray telescopes; Acoustic test; Mirror assembly; FXT; The lower composite; The upper composite; EP; X-ray baffle; PNCCD
• ISSN: 0922-6435; 1572-9508
• DOI: 10.1007/s10686-023-09889-6

The Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT) is one of the key payloads onboard EP. It is a Wolter-I type X-ray focusing telescope equipped with two telescope modules (focal length 1.6 m), with a total effective area of ~ 600 cm2 at 1.25 keV and an energy range of 0.3–10 keV. FXT is mainly composed of an X-ray focusing mirror assembly (MA) and a camera assembly with a PNCCD detector module. The two FXT modules are completely independent from each other, thus avoiding a single point failure. We completed the internal composites of FXT structural design, which meets the function and performance requirements of mechanical, thermal, contamination control and X-ray optics. The FXT passed successfully the mechanical, thermal qualification level tests on the spacecraft platform in the phase C.