Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope

Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope
Telescope style X-ray telescope, proposed building or structure[*]
Website www.hxmt.cn/english/index.php

Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT) is a planned Chinese X-ray space observatory, scheduled for launch in November 2016 to observe black holes, neutron stars and other phenomena based on their X-ray and gamma ray emissions.[1] It will be China's first astronomy satellite.[2] It is based on the JianBing 3 imagery reconnaissance satellite series platform.

The main scientific instrument is an array of 18 NaI(Tl)/CsI(na) slat-collimated "phoswich" scintillation detectors, collimated to 5.7°×1° overlapping fields of view.[3] The main NaI detectors have an area of 286 cm2 each, and cover the 20—200 keV energy range. Data analysis is planned to be by a direct algebraic method, "direct demodulation",[4] which has shown promise in de-convolving the raw data into images while preserving excellent angular and energy resolution.

The project, a joint collaboration of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Tsinghua University, has been under development since 2000.

References

  1. ↑ Jones, Andrew (8 September 2016). "Tiangong-2 to launch next week in step towards Chinese space station". gbtimes. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  2. ↑ SpaceDaily, "China Focus: Timeline for China's space research revealed", Xinhua, 4 September 2012
  3. ↑ HXMT.cn, Configuration Archived July 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. (Hard X-ray telescope design) c.2004
  4. ↑ HXMT.cn, The direct demodulation method Archived July 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. (Imaging by direct deconvolution) c.2004
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