DOE OSTI · 3375378
Ground calibration plan for the Athena/X-IFU microcalorimeter spectrometer
Abstract
The X-ray Integral Field Unit is the X-ray imaging spectrometer on board one of ESA’s next large missions, Athena. Athena is set to investigate the theme of the Hot and Energetic Universe, with a launch planned in the late-2030s. Based on a high-sensitivity transition edge sensor (TES) detector array operated at very low temperature (50 mK), X-IFU will provide spatially resolved high-resolution spectroscopy of the X-ray sky in the 0.2 to 12 keV energy band, with an energy resolution goal of 4 eV up to 7 keV [3 eV design goal]. This work presents the current calibration plan of the X-IFU. It provides the requirements applicable to the X-IFU calibration, describes the overall calibration strategy, and details the procedure and sources needed for the ground calibration of each parameter or characteristics of the X-IFU.
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Molin, Alexeï [Univ. of Toulouse (France)], Pajot, François [Univ. of Toulouse (France)], Audard, Marc [Université de Genève, Versoix, (Switzerland)], Barbera, Marco [Universitá degli Studi di Palermo (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Palermo (Italy). Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo], Beaumont, Sophie [Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), Toulouse (France)], Cucchetti, Edoardo [Univ. of Toulouse (France)], d’Andrea, Matteo [Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Roma (Italy)], Daniel, Christophe [Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), Toulouse (France)], den Hartog, Roland [Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden (Netherlands)], Eckart, Megan E. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)], Ferrando, Philippe [UMR AIM, Gif sur Yvette (France)], Gottardi, Luciano [Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden (Netherlands)], Leutenegger, Maurice [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)], Lotti, Simone [Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Roma (Italy)], Natalucci, Lorenzo [Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Roma (Italy)], Peille, Philippe [Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), Toulouse (France)], de Plaa, Jelle [Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden (Netherlands)], Pointecouteau, Etienne [Univ. of Toulouse (France)], Porter, Scott [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)], Sato, Kosuke [Saitama Univ. (Japan)], Wilms, Joern [University of Erlangen-Nüremberg, Astronomical Institute of the FAU, Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Bamberg, Germany], Albouys, Vincent [Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), Toulouse (France)], Barret, Didier [Univ. of Toulouse (France)], Cappi, Massimo [Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Bollogna (Italy). Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio], den Herder, Jan-Willem [Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden (Netherlands)], Piro, Luigi [Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Roma (Italy)], Simionescu, Aurora [Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden (Netherlands)]. 2026-06-10. Ground calibration plan for the Athena/X-IFU microcalorimeter spectrometer. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.jatis.12.2.024008
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