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Astro-H
Astro-H (formerly known as 'NeXT') will be Japan's 6th X-ray astronomy mission with a planned launch date in 2013. The main goals of this mission are:
- revealing the large-scale structures of the universe and its evolution,
- understanding the extreme conditions in the universe,
- exploring the diverse phenomena of the non-thermal universe, and
- studying Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
The energy band covered by a suite of instruments on this satellite ranges from 0.3 keV up to a few 100 keV. For the soft X-rays, an array of X-ray calorimeters is selected which allows for spatially resolved spectroscopy (typical spectral resolution is < 7 eV at 7 keV). With this instrument it will be feasible to study the dynamics (velocities, turbulences) in extended objects such as clusters of galaxies, and supernova remnants. In addition, due to its improved spectral resolution, abundances, temperatures and densities of different elements can be determined with unprecedented accuracy. This instrument is called the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS).
SXS is being built by Japan (ISAS) and the US (NASA/GSFC) with a contribution from Europe. SRON’s involvement in Astro-H increased significantly following the decision by the Russian space agency Roscosmos not to include a similar instrument on the Russian satellite Spektr Röntgen-Gamma (launch in 2011). SRON will provide the filter wheel for the SXS instrument together with the University of Geneva. In addition, SRON will contribute to the system design, calibrations, and data analysis.
More info
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 | | Astro-H (artist impression), planned for launch in 2013. X-rays are focused by a set of 3 soft X-ray mirrors and 2 hard X-ray mirrors (top left). The extendable optical bench (bottom right) supports the two hard X-ray detectors. |
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