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Solar X-Ray Monitor on Board the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter: In-Flight Performance and Science Prospects

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Abstract

The Solar X-ray Monitor (abbreviated as XSM) on board India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission is designed to carry out broadband spectroscopy of the Sun from lunar orbit. It observes the Sun as a star and measures the spectrum every second in the soft X-ray band of 1 – 15 keV with an energy resolution better than 180 eV at 5.9 keV. The primary objective of the XSM is to provide the incident solar spectrum for the X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy experiment on the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, which aims to generate elemental abundance maps of the lunar surface. However, observations with the XSM can independently be used to study the Sun as well. The Chandrayaan-2 mission was launched on 22 July 2019, and the XSM began nominal operations, in lunar orbit, from September 2019. The in-flight observations, so far, have shown that its spectral performance has been identical to that on the ground. Measurements of the effective area from ground calibration were found to require some refinement, which has been carried out using solar observations at different incident angles. It also has been shown that the XSM is sensitive enough to detect solar activity well below A class. This makes the investigations of microflares and the quiet solar corona feasible in addition to the study of the evolution of physical parameters during intense flares. This article presents the in-flight performance and calibration of the XSM instrument and discusses some specific science cases that can be addressed using observations with the XSM.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the reviewer for helpful comments and suggestions which helped in improving the presentation of the article. The XSM payload was designed and developed by the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, supported by the Department of Space, Govt. of India. PRL was also responsible for the development of the data processing software, the overall payload operations, and data analysis of the XSM. The filter wheel mechanism for the XSM was provided by the U. R. Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru, along with the Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS), Bengaluru. Thermal design and analysis of the XSM packages were carried out by URSC whereas, the Space Application Centre (SAC) supported in mechanical design and analysis. SAC also supported in the fabrication of the flight model of the payload and its test and evaluation for the flight use. We thank various facilities and the technical teams of all the above centers for their support during the design, fabrication, and testing of this payload. The authors also thank the Chandrayaan-2 mission, operations, and ground segment teams. We thank the CLASS team for useful discussions. The authors acknowledge G. Del-Zanna for his help with the simulations of theoretical spectra using CHIANTI and for useful discussions. The Chandrayaan-2 mission is funded and managed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

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  1. Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, 380 009, India

    N. P. S. Mithun, Santosh V. Vadawale, Aveek Sarkar, M. Shanmugam, Arpit R. Patel, Biswajit Mondal, Bhuwan Joshi, P. Janardhan, Hiteshkumar L. Adalja, Shiv Kumar Goyal, Tinkal Ladiya, Neeraj Kumar Tiwari, Nishant Singh, Sushil Kumar & Anil Bhardwaj

  2. Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Palaj, Gandhinagar, 382 355, India

    N. P. S. Mithun

  3. Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452 013, India

    Manoj K. Tiwari & M. H. Modi

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  1. N. P. S. Mithun
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Mithun, N.P.S., Vadawale, S.V., Sarkar, A. et al. Solar X-Ray Monitor on Board the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter: In-Flight Performance and Science Prospects. Sol Phys 295, 139 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-020-01712-1

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