Development of the timing system for the X-ray imaging and spectroscopy mission

Abstract

We describe the development, design, ground verification, and in-orbit verification, performance measurement, and calibration of the timing system for the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM). The scientific goals of the mission require an absolute timing accuracy of 1.0 ms. All components of the timing system were designed and verified to be within the timing error budgets, which were assigned by component to meet the requirements. After the launch of XRISM, the timing capability of the ground-tuned timing system was verified using the millisecond pulsar PSR B1937+21 during the commissioning period, and the timing jitter of the bus and the ground component were found to be below 15 μs compared with the NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition ExploreR) profile. During the performance verification and calibration period, simultaneous observations of the Crab pulsar by XRISM, NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array), and NICER were made to measure the absolute timing offset of the system, showing that the arrival time of the main pulse with XRISM was aligned with that of NICER and NuSTAR to within 200 μs. In conclusion, the absolute timing accuracy of the bus and the ground component of the XRISM timing system meets the timing error budget of 500 μs.