NASA NTRS · 20120015758
Toward Active X-ray Telescopes II
Abstract
In the half century since the initial discovery of an astronomical (non-solar) x-ray source, the sensitivity for detection of cosmic x-ray sources has improved by ten orders of magnitude. Largely responsible for this dramatic progress has been the refinement of the (grazing-incidence) focusing x-ray telescope. The future of x-ray astronomy relies upon the development of x-ray telescopes with larger aperture areas (greater than 1 m2) and finer angular resolution (less than 1.). Combined with the special requirements of grazing-incidence optics, the mass and envelope constraints of space-borne telescopes render such advances technologically challenging.requiring precision fabrication, alignment, and assembly of large areas (greater than 100 m2) of lightweight (approximately 1 kg m2 areal density) mirrors. Achieving precise and stable alignment and figure control may entail active (in-space adjustable) x-ray optics. This paper discusses relevant programmatic and technological issues and summarizes progress toward active x-ray telescopes.
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O'Dell, Stephen L., Aldroft, Thomas L., Atkins, Carolyn, Button, Timothy W., Cotroneo, Vincenzo, Davis, William N., Doel, Peter, Feldman, Charlotte H., Freeman, Mark D., Gubarev, Mikhail V., Johnson-Wilke, Raegan L., Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J., Lillie, Charles F., Michette, Alan G., Ramsey, Brian D., Reid, Paul B., Sanmartin, Daniel Rodriguez, Saha, Timo T., Schwartz, Daniel A., Trolier-McKinstry, Susan E., Ulmer, Melville P., Wilke, Rudeger H. T., Willingale, Richard, Zhang, William W.. 2012-08-12. Toward Active X-ray Telescopes II. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20120015758
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