Optics requirements for x-ray astronomy and developments at the Marshall Space Flight Center

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Vol. 710; pp. 143 - 150
• Main Authors: Ramsey, B.D., Atkins, C., Gubarev, M.V., Kilaru, K., O'Dell, S.L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 11.05.2013
• Subjects: Accelerators; Active control; Angular resolution; Astronomy; Focusing; Observatories; Replicated; Space flight; X-ray astronomy; X-ray optics; X-ray sources; X-rays; X-ray astronomy; Replicated; Active control; X-ray optics
• ISSN: 0168-9002; 1872-9576
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2012.10.119

X-ray optics have revolutionized x-ray astronomy; the degree of background suppression that these afford has led to a tremendous increase in sensitivity. The current Chandra observatory has the same collecting area (∼103cm2) as that of the non-imaging UHURU observatory, the first x-ray observatory which was launched in 1970, but has five orders of magnitude more sensitivity due to its focusing optics. In addition, its 0.5″ angular resolution has revealed a wealth of structure in many cosmic x-ray sources. The Chandra observatory achieved its resolution by using relatively thick pieces of Zerodur glass, which were meticulously figured and polished to form the four-shell nested array. The resulting optical assembly weighed >1000kg, and cost approximately $0.5B. The challenge for future x-ray astronomy missions is to greatly increase the collecting area (by one or more orders of magnitude) while ultimately maintaining sub-arcsecond angular resolution, and all within realistic mass and budget constraints.