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 2030s, ESA plans to launch 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 camera for X-IFU, which is cooled down to 50 milliKelvin by other parts of the instrument. This so-called Focal Plane Assembly includes a thermal suspension of the detector, magnetic shielding, and cold electronics.
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. This is a huge leap in spectral mapping and sensitivity compared to existing X-ray instruments.
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 0.05 degrees Celsius 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.