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SRON is responsible for building the camera for the X-IFU imaging spectrometer onboard the NewAthena X-ray space telescope. A latest Demonstration Model has now been successfully assembled in SRON’s cleanroom and is mounted into a cryogenic test setup which cools the detector stage to a temperature of 50 milliKelvin.
In the late 30s , ESA plans the launch of its NewAthena X-ray telescope. It is equipped with two instruments: the Wide Field Imager (WFI) for images of larger fractions of the universe and the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) for detailed recordings with high spectral resolution. SRON delivers the X-ray camera for X-IFU, which is cooled down to 50 mKelvins by other parts of the instrument. This so-called Focal Plane Assembly (FPA) includes a thermal suspension of the detector, magnetic shielding, and cold electronics.
The X-IFU aims to further expand our knowledge of supermassive black holes and hot gas structures in the universe, using over fifteen hundred pixels and a spectral resolution of less than 4.0 eV: a huge leap in spectral mapping and sensitivity compared to existing X-ray instruments.
Image credit: SRON / Claudia van Oostrum.
Demonstration Model
SRON engineers have now assembled a Demonstration Model of X-IFU’s camera in their cleanroom and placed it in a cryostat to test its performance in combination with representative cold electronics. During these tests, the detector stage is kept an operating temperature of 50 milliKelvin, or 50 thousandths of a degree above absolute zero. Space instruments are often developed in multiple stages running from Demonstration Model, Engineering Model and Qualification model before the final Flight Model is assembled. A successful Demonstration Model thus brings us a big step closer to launch!
Image credit: SRON / Claudia van Oostrum.
Further Resource
- SRON Press Release : Assembly of Demonstration Model for X-IFU camera is complete
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