X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission
M. Tashiro, Richard L. Kelley, Shin Watanabe, Hironori Maejima, Lillian S. Reichenthal, Kenichi Toda, Leslie S. Hartz, A. Santovincenzo, Kyoko Matsushita, Hiroya Yamaguchi, R. Petre, Brian J. Williams, M. Guainazzi, Elisa Costantini, Yoh Takei, Yoshitaka Ishisaki, Ryuichi Fujimoto, Joy Henegar-Leon, Gary A. Sneiderman, Hiroshi Tomida, Koji Mori, Hiroshi Nakajima, Y. Terada, Matthew Holland, Michael Loewenstein, Eric D. Miller, Makoto Sawada, T. R. Kallman, J. S. Kaastra, Chris Done, Teruaki Enoto, Aya Bamba, Lía Corrales, Yoshihiro Ueda, Erin Kara, Irina Zhuravleva, Yutaka Fujita, Yoshitaka Arai, M. Audard, Hisamitsu Awaki, Ralf Ballhausen, Chris Baluta, Nobutaka Bando, Ehud Behar, Thomas G. Bialas, Rozenn Boissay-Malaquin, Laura Brenneman, G. V. Brown, Meng P. Chiao, Renata Cumbee, Cor de Vries, Jan‐Willem den Herder, María Díaz Trigo, Michael DiPirro, Tadayasu Dotani, Jacobo Ebrero Carrero, Ken Ebisawa, Megan E. Eckart, D. Eckert, S. Eguchi, Yuichiro Ezoe, C. Ferrigno, Adam Foster, Y. Fukazawa, Kotaro Fukushima, Akihiro Furuzawa, Luigi Gallo, Javier Garcia Martinez, Nathalie Gorter, Martin Grim, Liyi Gu, Kouichi Hagino, Kenji Hamaguchi, Isamu Hatsukade, Katsuhiro Hayashi, Takayuki Hayashi, Natalie Hell, Edmund Hodges‐Kluck, Takafumi Horiuchi, A. E. Hornschemeier, Akio Hoshino, Yuto Ichinohe, Chisato Ikuta, Ryo Iizuka, Daiki Ishi, Manabu Ishida, Naoki Ishihama, Kumi Ishikawa, Kosei Ishimura, Tess Jaffe, Satoru Katsuda, Yoshiaki Kanemaru, Steven J. Kenyon, Caroline A. Kilbourne, Mark O. Kimball, Shunji Kitamoto, Shogo Kobayashi, Takayoshi Kohmura, Aya Kubota, Maurice A. Leutenegger
Abstract
Abstract The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) is a joint mission between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA). In addition to the three space agencies, universities and research institutes from Japan, North America, and Europe have joined to contribute to developing satellite and onboard instruments, data-processing software, and the scientific observation program. XRISM is the successor to the ASTRO-H (Hitomi) mission, which ended prematurely in 2016. Its primary science goal is to examine astrophysical problems with precise, high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy. XRISM promises to discover new horizons in X-ray astronomy. It carries a 6 × 6 pixelized X-ray microcalorimeter on the focal plane of an X-ray mirror assembly (Resolve) and a co-aligned X-ray CCD camera (Xtend) that covers the same energy band over a large field of view. XRISM utilizes the Hitomi heritage, but all designs were reviewed. The attitude and orbit control system was improved in hardware and software. The spacecraft was launched from the JAXA Tanegashima Space Center on 2023 September 6 (UTC). During the in-orbit commissioning phase, the onboard components were activated. Although the gate valve protecting the Resolve sensor with a thin beryllium X-ray entrance window was not yet opened, scientific observation started in 2024 February with the planned performance verification observation program. The nominal observation program commenced with the following guest observation program beginning in 2024 September.