1. Concept of the X-ray Astronomy Recovery Mission
- Author
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Shinya Yamada, Laura Brenneman, Yang Soong, Eric J. Miller, Kyoko Matsushita, Katja Pottschmidt, Johannes Dercksen, Hiromi Seta, Toru Tamagawa, Keiichi Matsuzaki, Yukikatsu Terada, Edgar Canavan, Rie Sato, F. Scott Porter, Hiroshi Murakami, Yoh Takei, Kimberly D. Brown, Michael J. DiPirro, Steven Kenyon, Hiroshi Tomida, Timothy R. Kallman, Richard L. Kelley, Atsushi Okamoto, Rob Wolfs, Matteo Guainazzi, Shinya Nakashima, Kenji Hamaguchi, Shin Watanabe, Lorella Angelini, Takayoshi Kohmura, Brian R. McNamara, Thomas G. Bialas, Megumi Shidatsu, Kumi Ishikawa, Aya Kubota, Takayuki Tamura, Jon M. Miller, Mark O. Kimball, Gary A. Sneiderman, Joseph Bonafede, Yoshitaka Arai, Kosei Ishimura, Mina Ogawa, A. E. Szymkowiak, Hiroshi Nakajima, Kenichi Toda, Steve Graham, Takao Kitaguchi, Makoto Sawada, Tom Lockard, Erin Kara, Yutaka Fujita, Dean Hawes, Shin'ichiro Uno, Hideyuki Mori, Kenichiro Nigo, Jan-Willem den Herder, Randall K. Smith, Luigi C. Gallo, Chikara Natsukari, Hideto Nakamura, Makoto Yamauchi, Michitaka Onizuka, Yoshitaka Ishisaki, Thomas Walsh, Koji Mori, Peter Barfknecht, Kazuhiro Nakazawa, Maria Diaz-Trigo, Manabu Ishida, Makoto Tashiro, Hiromitsu Takahashi, Satoru Katsuda, Cor P. de Vries, M. Ohno, Zhuravleva Irina, Meng P. Chiao, Aurora Simionescu, Kim Barnstable, Cailey Hegarty, Aya Bamba, Naomi Ota, Joseph Miko, M. Loewenstein, Connor Martz, Hirokazu Odaka, Ann Hornschemeier, Carlo Ferrigno, Edmund Hodges-Kluck, B. Blagojević, Liyi Gu, Masanobu Ozaki, Kenji Minesugi, Kazunori Someya, Kumiko K. Nobukawa, Junko S. Hiraga, Hiroya Yamaguchi, Shogo B. Kobayashi, Greg Brown, C. Brambora, Hiroyuki Uchida, Richard F. Mushotzky, Peter Shirron, Chris Done, Dan McCammon, Natalie Hell, Laura A. Burns, Kazunori Ishibashi, Brian J. Williams, Jaime Zabala, Brian Comber, Hironori Matsumoto, Matthew Holland, Teruaki Enoto, Stéphane Paltani, Yusuke Nishioka, Tim Carnahan, Masahiro Tsujimoto, Takayuki Hayashi, Lurli Babyk, Maki Shida, Ken Shelton, Isamu Hatsukade, Takeshi Go Tsuru, Kosuke Sato, Yoshihiro Ueda, Caroline A. Kilbourne, Yasuharu Suagawara, Tsunefumi Mizuno, Susumu Yasuda, S. Koyama, Hironori Maejima, Lia Corrales, Masayoshi Nobukawa, Yoshitomo Maeda, Yasushi Fukazawa, Hisamitsu Awaki, Takaaki Tanaka, Tadayasu Dotani, Megan E. Eckart, Takaya Ohashi, J. V. Lobell, Hiroshi Tsunemi, Ikuyuki Mitsuishi, Noriko Y. Yamasaki, Hirofumi Noda, Lillian Reichenthal, Yuichi Terashima, Kiyoshi Hayashida, Lynette Marbley, Tahir Yaqoob, Ryuichi Fujimoto, Ken Ebisawa, Kohichi Hagino, Martin Grim, Bryan L. James, Yohko Tsuboi, Shigeo Yamauchi, Maxim Markevitch, Yuto Ichinohe, Tyrone DIllard, Nasa Yoshioka, Akio Hoshino, Hideki Uchiyama, Shunji Kitamoto, Paul P. Plucinsky, Mark Edison, Yuichiro Ezoe, Yasuko Shibano, Koji Mukai, Michael R. Wright, Ryo Iizuka, Masayuki Ohta, Keiichi Yanagase, Hiroki Akamatsu, Robert Petre, Elisa Costantini, Kazutaka Yamaoka, Maurice A. Leutenegger, Takashi Okajima, and Akihiro Furuzawa
- Subjects
X-ray astronomy ,Attitude control system ,COSMIC cancer database ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,business.industry ,Computer science ,Energy transfer ,media_common.quotation_subject ,High resolution ,Field of view ,01 natural sciences ,Universe ,0103 physical sciences ,Aerospace engineering ,business ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Event (particle physics) ,media_common - Abstract
The ASTRO-H mission was designed and developed through an international collaboration of JAXA, NASA, ESA, and the CSA. It was successfully launched on February 17, 2016, and then named Hitomi. During the in-orbit verification phase, the on-board observational instruments functioned as expected. The intricate coolant and refrigeration systems for soft X-ray spectrometer (SXS, a quantum micro-calorimeter) and soft X-ray imager (SXI, an X-ray CCD) also functioned as expected. However, on March 26, 2016, operations were prematurely terminated by a series of abnormal events and mishaps triggered by the attitude control system. These errors led to a fatal event: the loss of the solar panels on the Hitomi mission. The X-ray Astronomy Recovery Mission (or, XARM) is proposed to regain the key scientific advances anticipated by the international collaboration behind Hitomi. XARM will recover this science in the shortest time possible by focusing on one of the main science goals of Hitomi,“Resolving astrophysical problems by precise high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy”.1 This decision was reached after evaluating the performance of the instruments aboard Hitomi and the mission’s initial scientific results, and considering the landscape of planned international X-ray astrophysics missions in 2020’s and 2030’s. Hitomi opened the door to high-resolution spectroscopy in the X-ray universe. It revealed a number of discrepancies between new observational results and prior theoretical predictions. Yet, the resolution pioneered by Hitomi is also the key to answering these and other fundamental questions. The high spectral resolution realized by XARM will not offer mere refinements; rather, it will enable qualitative leaps in astrophysics and plasma physics. XARM has therefore been given a broad scientific charge: “Revealing material circulation and energy transfer in cosmic plasmas and elucidating evolution of cosmic structures and objects”. To fulfill this charge, four categories of science objectives that were defined for Hitomi will also be pursued by XARM; these include (1) Structure formation of the Universe and evolution of clusters of galaxies; (2) Circulation history of baryonic matters in the Universe; (3) Transport and circulation of energy in the Universe; (4) New science with unprecedented high resolution X-ray spectroscopy. In order to achieve these scientific objectives, XARM will carry a 6 × 6 pixelized X-ray micro-calorimeter on the focal plane of an X-ray mirror assembly, and an aligned X-ray CCD camera covering the same energy band and a wider field of view. This paper introduces the science objectives, mission concept, and observing plan of XARM.
- Published
- 2018