The Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) on the SMILE Mission

Author(s)

S. Sembay, G. Branduardi-Raymont, P. Drumm, C. P. Escoubet, G. Genov, J. Gow, D. Hall, A. Holland, R. Hudec, J. M. Mas-Hesse, T. Kennedy, K. D. Kuntz, R. Nakamura, N. Ostgaard, R. Ottensamer, W. Raab, A. Read, D. Rebuffat, J. Romstedt, E. Schyns, D. G. Sibeck, A. Srp, M. Steller, T. Sun, J. M. Sykes, J. Thornhill, B. Walsh, D. Walton, C. Wang, F. Wei, A. Wielders, I. C. Whittaker

Abstract

SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a space

mission dedicated to study the interaction of the solar wind with the

Earth's magnetic field. SMILE will investigate the dynamic response of

the Earth's magnetosphere to the impact of the solar wind in a unique

manner, never attempted before: it will combine soft X-ray imaging of

the Earth's magnetic boundaries and magnetospheric cusps with

simultaneous UV imaging of the Northern aurora, while simultaneously

providing context measurements via an in situ plasma and magnetometer

instrument package. SMILE is a joint European Space Agency (ESA) and

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) collaborative mission due for launch

in 2021. This talk will describe the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) on SMILE.

The SXI is designed for good detection sensitivity of the soft X-rays

(0.2 - 2.0 keV) produced in the Earth's exosphere by the solar wind

charge exchange process. This process is the mechanism by which it is

possible to globally image the Earth's dayside magnetosheath,

magnetopause boundary, bowshock and cusps. The wide field of view of the

instrument (27° x 16°) is achieved by the use of a micropore

optic (MPO) with a Lobster-eye focusing geometry. The detector consists

of two large format CCDs (each 8.1 cm x 6.8 cm sensitive area) providing

high quantum efficiency and medium energy resolution for soft X-rays.

The instrument design will be presented along with simulation results

indicating the instrument sensitivity and science return.

Organisation(s)

Department of Astrophysics

External organisation(s)

University of Leicester, University College London, Science and Operations Department - Science Division (SCI-SC), University of Bergen (UiB), Open University, Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Johns Hopkins University, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW), Photonis France SAS, National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), C3S Electronics Development LLC., Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Boston University

Publication date

12-2016

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

103003 Astronomy, 103004 Astrophysics

Keywords

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/ae4de96f-0b9b-4ba9-a3ae-887aed18e171