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We present a new, inexpensive, bench-top method for measuring groove period over large areas with high mapping resolution and high measurement accuracy, dubbed the grating mapper for accurate period (GMAP). The GMAP has the ability to measure large groove period changes and non-parallel grooves, both of which cannot be measured via optical interferometry. In this paper, we detail the calibration and setup of the GMAP, and employ the instrument to measure three distinct gratings. Two of these measured gratings have customized groove patterns that prevent them from being measured via other traditional methods, such as optical interferometry. Our implementation of this tool achieves a spatial resolution of 0.1 mm$\times$0.1 mm and a period error of 1.7 nm for a 3 $\mu$m size groove period., Comment: 14 pages, 16 figures

The Water Recovery X-ray Rocket (WRXR) is a sounding rocket payload that launched from the Kwajalein Atoll in April 2018 and was the first NASA astrophysics sounding rocket payload to be recovered from water. WRXR's primary instrument is a grating spectrometer that consists of a mechanical collimator, X-ray reflection gratings, grazing-incidence mirrors, and a hybrid CMOS detector. We present here the design of the WRXR spectrometer’s gratings and mirrors.

The Water Recovery X-Ray Rocket (WRXR) was a suborbital rocket payload that was launched and recovered in April 2018. The WRXR flew two technologies being developed for future large x-ray missions: x-ray reflection gratings and a hybrid CMOS detector (HCD). The large-format replicated gratings on the WRXR were measured in ground calibrations to have absolute single-order diffraction efficiency of ∼60 % , ∼50 % , and ∼35 % at CVI, OVII, and OVIII emission energies, respectively. The HCD was operated with ∼6 e − read noise and ∼88 eV energy resolution at 0.5 keV. The WRXR was also part of a two-payload campaign that successfully demonstrated NASA sounding rocket water recovery technology for science payloads. The primary instrument, a soft x-ray grating spectrometer, targeted diffuse emission from the Vela supernova remnant over a field-of-view >10 deg2. The flight data show that the detector was operational during flight and detected x-ray events from an on-board calibration source, but there was no definitive detection of x-ray events from Vela. Flight results are presented along with a discussion of factors that could have contributed to the null detection.