The First Flight of the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-Ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS)
Sabrina Savage, Amy R. Winebarger, K. Kobayashi, P. S. Athiray, Dyana Beabout, L. Golub, R. W. Walsh, Brent Beabout, S. J. Bradshaw, Alexander R. Bruccoleri, Patrick Champey, Peter Cheimets, Jonathan Cirtain, E. E. DeLuca, G. Del Zanna, Jaroslav Dudík, Anthony R. Guillory, Harlan Haight, Ralf K. Heilmann, Edward Hertz, William Hogue, Jeffery Kegley, Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak, Chad Madsen, H. E. Mason, David McKenzie, Jagan Ranganathan, Katharine K. Reeves, Bryan A. Robertson, Mark L. Schattenburg, Jörg Scholvin, Richard Siler, Paola Testa, Genevieve D. Vigil, Harry P. Warren, Benjamin Jon Watkinson, Bruce Weddendorf, Ernest R. Wright
Abstract
Abstract The Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS) sounding rocket experiment launched on 2021 July 30 from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. MaGIXS is a unique solar observing telescope developed to capture X-ray spectral images of coronal active regions in the 6–24 Å wavelength range. Its novel design takes advantage of recent technological advances related to fabricating and optimizing X-ray optical systems, as well as breakthroughs in inversion methodologies necessary to create spectrally pure maps from overlapping spectral images. MaGIXS is the first instrument of its kind to provide spatially resolved soft X-ray spectra across a wide field of view. The plasma diagnostics available in this spectral regime make this instrument a powerful tool for probing solar coronal heating. This paper presents details from the first MaGIXS flight, the captured observations, the data processing and inversion techniques, and the first science results.