Hitomi (ASTRO-H) X-ray Astronomy Satellite
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Takahashi, Tadayuki, Motohide Kokubun, Kazuhisa Mitsuda, Richard L. Kelley, Takaya Ohashi, Felix Aharonian, Hiroki Akamatsu, et al. “Hitomi (ASTRO-H) X-Ray Astronomy Satellite.” Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 4, no. 2 (March 2018): 021402. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.4.2.021402.
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This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
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Abstract
The Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission is the sixth Japanese x-ray astronomy satellite developed by a large international collaboration, including Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe. The mission aimed to provide the highest energy resolution ever achieved at E > 2 keV, using a microcalorimeter instrument, and to cover a wide energy range spanning four decades in energy from soft x-rays to gamma rays. After a successful launch on February 17, 2016, the spacecraft lost its function on March 26, 2016, but the commissioning phase for about a month provided valuable information on the onboard instruments and the spacecraft system, including astrophysical results obtained from first light observations. The paper describes the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission, its capabilities, the initial operation, and the instruments/spacecraft performances confirmed during the commissioning operations for about a month.