The Rockets for Extended-source X-ray Spectroscopy: instrument updates, results from the first flight, and future outlook

Drew M. Miles; Ross McCurdy; James H. Tutt; Jessica Mondoskin; Keir Hunter; Katherine Brooks; Daniel Washington; Randall L. McEntaffer; Tyler Anderson; Logan Baker; Michael Betts; Christopher Hillman; Joseph Weston; Natalie Zinski; Chad Eichfeld; Gianna Gagliardi; Juan Rojas González; Fabien Grisé; Sarah Hawks; Gabrielle Hernandez; Joseph Kang; Michael Labella; Jake McCoy; Bridget O'Meara; Bailey Myers; Eli Papadopoulos; Nestor Pelaez; Vincent A. Smedile; Adam Stone; Taylor Wood

doi:10.1117/12.3020368

21 August 2024 The Rockets for Extended-source X-ray Spectroscopy: instrument updates, results from the first flight, and future outlook

Drew M. Miles, Ross McCurdy, James H. Tutt, Jessica Mondoskin, Keir Hunter, Katherine Brooks, Daniel Washington, Randall L. McEntaffer, Tyler Anderson, Logan Baker, Michael Betts, Christopher Hillman, Joseph Weston, Natalie Zinski, Chad Eichfeld, Gianna Gagliardi, Juan Rojas González, Fabien Grisé, Sarah Hawks, Gabrielle Hernandez, Joseph Kang, Michael Labella, Jake McCoy, Bridget O'Meara, Bailey Myers, Eli Papadopoulos, Nestor Pelaez, Vincent A. Smedile, Adam Stone, Taylor Wood

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 13093, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 1309373 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020368
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Conference Poster

Abstract

The Rockets for Extended-source X-ray Spectroscopy (tREXS) is a suborbital rocket program that uses a wide-field grating spectrograph to obtain spectroscopic data on extended, soft-X-ray sources. The multi-channel tREXS spectrograph uses passive, mechanical focusing optics and stacks of reflection gratings to achieve a spectral resolution of R ≈ 50 from ≈15 – 40 Å over a >10 deg² field of view. The dispersed spectra are read out by an array of 11 X-ray CMOS detectors that form a 97-megapixel focal-plane camera. tREXS was launched for the first time in September, 2022 to observe the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant. Though a failure in the rail pumping system led to a non-detection of emission from the Cygnus Loop during the flight, the rest of the instrument performed nominally and was recovered successfully. We present here an update on the instrument, results from the first flight, and a discussion of the future outlook.

Citation Download Citation

Drew M. Miles, Ross McCurdy, James H. Tutt, Jessica Mondoskin, Keir Hunter, Katherine Brooks, Daniel Washington, Randall L. McEntaffer, Tyler Anderson, Logan Baker, Michael Betts, Christopher Hillman, Joseph Weston, Natalie Zinski, Chad Eichfeld, Gianna Gagliardi, Juan Rojas González, Fabien Grisé, Sarah Hawks, Gabrielle Hernandez, Joseph Kang, Michael Labella, Jake McCoy, Bridget O'Meara, Bailey Myers, Eli Papadopoulos, Nestor Pelaez, Vincent A. Smedile, Adam Stone, and Taylor Wood "The Rockets for Extended-source X-ray Spectroscopy: instrument updates, results from the first flight, and future outlook", Proc. SPIE 13093, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 1309373 (21 August 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020368

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

;

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE