The Milli-Arc-Second Structure Imager, MASSIM: A New Concept for a High Angular Resolution X-ray Telescope
MASSIM, the Milli-Arc-Second Structure Imager, is a mission that has been proposed for study within the context of NASA's "Astrophysics Strategic Mission Concept Studies" program. It uses a set of achromatic diffractive-refractive Fresnel lenses on an optics spacecraft to focus 5-11 keV X-rays onto detectors on a second spacecraft flying in formation 1000 km away. It will have a point-source sensitivity comparable with that of the current generation of major X-ray observatories (Chandra, XMM-Newton) but an angular resolution some three orders of magnitude better. MASSIM is optimized for the study of jets and other phenomena that occur in the immediate vicinity of black holes and neutron stars. It can also be used for studying other astrophysical phenomena on the milli-arc-second scale, such as those involving proto-stars, the surfaces and surroundings of nearby active stars and interacting winds. After introducing the principle of diffractive imaging in the x-ray/gamma-ray regime, the MASSIM mission concept and baseline design will be described along with a discussion of the options and trade-offs within the X-ray optics design.