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DOE OSTI2011

Imaging Opportunities in Radiation Oncology

Interdisciplinary efforts may significantly affect the way that clinical knowledge and scientific research related to imaging impact the field of Radiation Oncology. This report summarizes the findings of an intersociety workshop held in October 2008, with the express purpose of exploring 'Imaging Opportunities in Radiation Oncology.' Participants from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), American Association of physicists in Medicine (AAPM), American Board of Radiology (ABR), Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO), and Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) discussed areas of education, clinical practice, and research that bridge disciplines and potentially would lead to improved clinical practice. Findings from this workshop include recommendations for cross-training opportunities within the allowed structured of Radiology and Radiation Oncology residency programs, expanded representation of ASTRO in imaging related multidisciplinary groups (and reciprocal representation within ASTRO committees), increased attention to imaging validation and credentialing for clinical trials (e.g., through the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN)), and building ties through collaborative research as well as smaller joint workshops and symposia.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Long-Term Results of an RTOG Phase II Trial (00-19) of External-Beam Radiation Therapy Combined With Permanent Source Brachytherapy for Intermediate-Risk Clinically Localized Adenocarcinoma of the Prostate

Purpose: External-beam radiation therapy combined with low-doserate permanent brachytherapy are commonly used to treat men with localized prostate cancer. This Phase II trial was performed to document late gastrointestinal or genitourinary toxicity as well as biochemical control for this treatment in a multi-institutional cooperative group setting. This report defines the long-term results of this trial. Methods and Materials: All eligible patients received external-beam radiation (45 Gy in 25 fractions) followed 2-6 weeks later by a permanent iodine 125 implant of 108 Gy. Late toxicity was defined by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group/European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer late radiation morbidity scoring scheme. Biochemical control was defined by the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) Consensus definition and the ASTRO Phoenix definition. Results: One hundred thirty-eight patients were enrolled from 20 institutions, and 131 were eligible. Median follow-up (living patients) was 8.2 years (range, 2.7-9.3 years). The 8-year estimate of late grade >3 genitourinary and/or gastrointestinal toxicity was 15%. The most common grade >3 toxicities were urinary frequency, dysuria, and proctitis. There were two grade 4 toxicities, both bladder necrosis, and no grade 5 toxicities. In addition, 42% of patients complained of grade 3 impotence (no erections) at 8 years. The 8-year estimate of biochemical failure was 18% and 21% by the Phoenix and ASTRO consensus definitions, respectively. Conclusion: Biochemical control for this treatment seems durable with 8 years of follow-up and is similar to high-dose external beam radiation alone or brachytherapy alone. Late toxicity in this multi-institutional trial is higher than reports from similar cohorts of patients treated with high-dose external-beam radiation alone or permanent low-doserate brachytherapy alone, perhaps suggesting further attention to strategies that limit doses to normal structures or to unimodal radiotherapy techniques.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2013

A 10-Year Analysis of American Society for Radiation Oncology Junior Faculty Career Development Awards

Purpose: Between 2000 and 2010, the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) awarded 22 Junior Faculty Career Development Awards (JFA) totaling $4.4 million. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of these awards on the grantees' career development, including current position, publications, and subsequent independent grant funding. Methods: Each awardee was requested via email and telephone to provide an updated curriculum vitae, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) biosketch, and information regarding current position of employment. Twenty-one of the 22 JFA recipients complied. Reported grant funding was extracted from each candidate's CV, and the amounts of NIH grants obtained were confirmed via NIH REPORTER. Reported publications were confirmed via PubMed. Results: All survey respondents (21 of 21) have remained in academic positions. Subsequent aggregate grant funding totaled more than $25 million (range, $0-$4.1 million), 5.9 times the initial investment. NIH grant funding totaled almost $15 million, 3 times the initial investment. Awardees have published an average of 34.6 publications (range, 0-123) for an overall rate of 4.5 papers/year (range, 1-11). Conclusions: ASTRO JFAs over the past decade have been strongly associated with grantees remaining in academic positions, success in attracting private and NIH grants, and publication productivity. In an era of dwindling federal research funding, the support provided by the ASTRO JFA may be especially helpful to support the research careers of promising junior faculty members.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Evaluation of Current Consensus Statement Recommendations for Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation: A Pooled Analysis of William Beaumont Hospital and American Society of Breast Surgeon MammoSite Registry Trial Data

Purpose: To determine whether the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Consensus Statement (CS) recommendations for accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) are associated with significantly different outcomes in a pooled analysis from William Beaumont Hospital (WBH) and the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) MammoSite® Registry Trial. Methods and Materials: APBI was used to treat 2127 cases of early-stage breast cancer (WBH, n=678; ASBrS, n=1449). Three forms of APBI were used at WBH (interstitial, n=221; balloon-based, n=255; or 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy, n=206), whereas all Registry Trial patients received balloon-based brachytherapy. Patients were divided according to the ASTRO CS into suitable (n=661, 36.5%), cautionary (n=850, 46.9%), and unsuitable (n=302, 16.7%) categories. Tumor characteristics and clinical outcomes were analyzed according to CS group. Results: The median age was 65 years (range, 32-94 years), and the median tumor size was 10.0 mm (range, 0-45 mm). The median follow-up time was 60.6 months. The WBH cohort had more node-positive disease (6.9% vs 2.6%, P<.01) and cautionary patients (49.5% vs 41.8%, P=.06). The 5-year actuarial ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR), regional nodal failure (RNF), and distant metastasis (DM) for the whole cohort were 2.8%, 0.6%, 1.6%. The rate of IBTR was not statistically higher between suitable (2.5%), cautionary (3.3%), or unsuitable (4.6%) patients (P=.20). The nonsignificant increase in IBTR for the cautionary and unsuitable categories was due to increased elsewhere failures and new primaries (P=.04), not tumor bed recurrence (P=.93). Conclusions: Excellent outcomes after breast-conserving surgery and APBI were seen in our pooled analysis. The current ASTRO CS guidelines did not adequately differentiate patients at an increased risk of IBTR or tumor bed failure in this large patient cohort.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Benefit of Adjuvant Brachytherapy Versus External Beam Radiation for Early Breast Cancer: Impact of Patient Stratification on Breast Preservation

Purpose: Brachytherapy after lumpectomy is an increasingly popular breast cancer treatment, but data concerning its effectiveness are conflicting. Recently proposed “suitability” criteria guiding patient selection for brachytherapy have never been empirically validated. Methods: Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results–Medicare linked database, we compared women aged 66 years or older with invasive breast cancer (n=28,718) or ductal carcinoma in situ (n=7229) diagnosed from 2002 to 2007, treated with lumpectomy alone, brachytherapy, or external beam radiation therapy (EBRT). The likelihood of breast preservation, measured by subsequent mastectomy risk, was compared by use of multivariate proportional hazards, further stratified by American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) brachytherapy suitability groups. We compared 1-year postoperative complications using the χ{sup 2} test and 5-year local toxicities using the log-rank test. Results: For patients with invasive cancer, the 5-year subsequent mastectomy risk was 4.7% after lumpectomy alone (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.1%-5.4%), 2.8% after brachytherapy (95% CI, 1.8%-4.3%), and 1.3% after EBRT (95% CI, 1.1%-1.5%) (P<.001). Compared with lumpectomy alone, brachytherapy achieved a more modest reduction in adjusted risk (hazard ratio [HR], 0.61; 95% CI, 0.40-0.94) than achieved with EBRT (HR, 0.22; 95% CI, 0.18-0.28). Relative risks did not differ when stratified by ASTRO suitability group (P=.84 for interaction), although ASTRO “suitable” patients did show a low absolute subsequent mastectomy risk, with a minimal absolute difference in risk after brachytherapy (1.6%; 95% CI, 0.7%-3.5%) versus EBRT (0.8%; 95% CI, 0.6%-1.1%). For patients with ductal carcinoma in situ, EBRT maintained a reduced risk of subsequent mastectomy (HR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.28-0.55; P<.001), whereas the small number of patients treated with brachytherapy (n=179) precluded definitive comparison with lumpectomy alone. In all patients, brachytherapy showed a higher postoperative infection risk (16.5% vs 9.9% after lumpectomy alone vs 11.4% after EBRT, P<.001); higher incidence of breast pain (22.9% vs 11.2% vs 16.7%, P<.001); and higher incidence of fat necrosis (15.3% vs 5.3% vs 7.7%, P<.001). Conclusions: In this study era, brachytherapy showed lesser breast preservation benefit compared with EBRT. Suitability criteria predicted differential absolute, but not relative, benefit in patients with invasive cancer.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Reporting of Uncertainty at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology

Purpose: The annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is designed to disseminate new scientific findings and technical advances to professionals. Best practices of scientific dissemination require that some level of uncertainty (or imprecision) is provided. Methods and Materials: A total of 279 scientific abstracts were selected for oral presentation in a clinical session at the 2013 ASTRO Annual Meeting. A random sample of these abstracts was reviewed to determine whether a 95% confidence interval (95% CI) or analogous measure of precision was provided for time-to-event analyses. Results: A sample of 140 abstracts was reviewed. Of the 65 abstracts with Kaplan-Meier or cumulative incidence analyses, 6 included some measure of precision (6 of 65 = 9%; 95% CI, 2-16). Of the 43 abstracts reporting ratios for time-to-event analyses (eg, hazard ratio, risk ratio), 22 included some measure of precision (22 of 43 = 51%; 95% CI, 36-66). Conclusions: Measures of precision are not provided in a significant percentage of abstracts selected for oral presentation at the Annual Meeting of ASTRO.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Practical Implications of the Publication of Consensus Guidelines by the American Society for Radiation Oncology: Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation and the National Cancer Data Base

Purpose: To examine utilization trends of accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) in the American College of Surgeons' National Cancer Database and changes in APBI use after the 2009 publication of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) guidelines. Methods and Materials: A total of 399,705 women were identified who were diagnosed from 2004 to 2011 with nonmetastatic invasive breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ who were treated with breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy to the breast. Patients were divided by the type of treatment received (whole breast irradiation or APBI) and by suitability to receive APBI as defined by the ASTRO guidelines. Logistic regression was applied to study APBI use overall and within guideline categorization, and a multivariable model was created to determine predictors of treatment with brachytherapy-based APBI based on guideline categorization. Results: For all patients, APBI use increased, from 3.8% in 2004 to 10.6% in 2011 (P<.0001). Overall rates of APBI utilization were higher among “suitable” than “cautionary”/“unsuitable” patients (14.8% vs 7.1%, P<.0001). The majority of APBI treatment was delivered using brachytherapy, for which use peaked in 2008. Starting in 2009, among “suitable” patients, utilization of APBI via brachytherapy plateaued, whereas for “cautionary”/“unsuitable” patients, treatment with brachytherapy-based APBI declined and then plateaued. Conclusion: Use of APBI across all patient groups increased from 2004 through 2008. After publication of the ASTRO APBI guidelines in 2009, rates of brachytherapy-based APBI treatment plateaued among “suitable” patients and declined and then plateaued among “cautionary”/“unsuitable” patients. Our study highlights how large national databases can be used to assess national trends in radiation use in response to the publication of guidelines.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2016

The American Society for Radiation Oncology's 2015 Core Physics Curriculum for Radiation Oncology Residents

Purpose: The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Physics Core Curriculum Subcommittee (PCCSC) has updated the recommended physics curriculum for radiation oncology resident education to improve consistency in teaching, intensity, and subject matter. Methods and Materials: The ASTRO PCCSC is composed of physicists and physicians involved in radiation oncology residency education. The PCCSC updated existing sections within the curriculum, created new sections, and attempted to provide additional clinical context to the curricular material through creation of practical clinical experiences. Finally, we reviewed the American Board of Radiology (ABR) blueprint of examination topics for correlation with this curriculum. Results: The new curriculum represents 56 hours of resident physics didactic education, including a 4-hour initial orientation. The committee recommends completion of this curriculum at least twice to assure both timely presentation of material and re-emphasis after clinical experience. In addition, practical clinical physics and treatment planning modules were created as a supplement to the didactic training. Major changes to the curriculum include addition of Fundamental Physics, Stereotactic Radiosurgery/Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy, and Safety and Incidents sections, and elimination of the Radiopharmaceutical Physics and Dosimetry and Hyperthermia sections. Simulation and Treatment Verification and optional Research and Development in Radiation Oncology sections were also added. A feedback loop was established with the ABR to help assure that the physics component of the ABR radiation oncology initial certification examination remains consistent with this curriculum. Conclusions: The ASTRO physics core curriculum for radiation oncology residents has been updated in an effort to identify the most important physics topics for preparing residents for careers in radiation oncology, to reflect changes in technology and practice since the publication of previous recommended curricula, and to provide practical training modules in clinical radiation oncology physics and treatment planning. The PCCSC is committed to keeping the curriculum current and consistent with the ABR examination blueprint.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2013

PREDICTING MERGER-INDUCED GAS MOTIONS IN ΛCDM GALAXY CLUSTERS

In the hierarchical structure formation model, clusters of galaxies form through a sequence of mergers and continuous mass accretion, which generate significant random gas motions especially in their outskirts where material is actively accreting. Non-thermal pressure provided by the internal gas motions affects the thermodynamic structure of the X-ray emitting intracluster plasma and introduces biases in the physical interpretation of X-ray and Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect observations. However, we know very little about the nature of gas motions in galaxy clusters. The ASTRO-H X-ray mission, scheduled to launch in 2015, will have a calorimeter capable of measuring gas motions in galaxy clusters at the level of ∼< 100 km s{sup –1}. In this work, we predict the level of merger-induced gas motions expected in the ΛCDM model using hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy cluster formation. We show that the gas velocity dispersion is larger in more massive clusters, but exhibits a large scatter. We show that systems with large gas motions are morphologically disturbed, while early forming, relaxed groups show a smaller level of gas motions. By analyzing mock ASTRO-H observations of simulated clusters, we show that such observations can accurately measure the gas velocity dispersion out to the outskirts of nearby relaxed galaxy clusters. ASTRO-H analysis of merging clusters, on the other hand, requires multi-component spectral fitting and enables unique studies of substructures in galaxy clusters by measuring both the peculiar velocities and the velocity dispersion of gas within individual sub-clusters.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Adaptive Sampling Trust Region Method for Bi-fidelity Simulation Optimization [SWR-25-166]

Adaptive Sampling Trust Region Method for Bi-fidelity Simulation Optimization aims to demonstrate the effect of adaptive sampling-based bi-fidelity stochastic trust region method (ASTRO-BFDF). ASTRO-BFDF, derived from a derivative-free adaptive sampling trust-region optimization (ASTRO-DF) (Shashaani et al. 2018, Ha and Shashaani 2023), intended to efficiently solve the bi-fidelity simulation optimization.

Mueller, Juliane [National Laboratory of the Rocki↗
NASA NTRS1987

The development of a charge-coupled device tracker for spacecraft

Charge-coupled device (CCD) optical sensors have made it possible to construct high performance star and target trackers for spacecraft. The Advanced Star and Target Reference Orbital Sensor (ASTROS) trackers have been developed by JPL for the Shuttle-based astronomical flight Astro-1 and the Mariner Mark II (MMII) spacecraft. For the Shuttle application the tracker will provide the data for high precision instrument pointing and for the MMII application the tracker will provide stellar and extended target tracking data for flyby and rendezvous navigation. The specifications, architecture, and testing program for these trackers will be described. Laboratory measurements have demonstrated that these trackers can be very effective. The versatility and flexibility of the ASTROS type trackers will permit adaptation to a variety of navigation and guidance applications. These trackers represent one of the technologically advanced components that will be used in the development of the next generation of spacecraft.

Dennison, E. W.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Compression of spectral meteorological imagery

Data compression is essential to current low-earth-orbit spectral sensors with global coverage, e.g., meteorological sensors. Such sensors routinely produce in excess of 30 Gb of data per orbit (over 4 Mb/s for about 110 min) while typically limited to less than 10 Gb of downlink capacity per orbit (15 minutes at 10 Mb/s). Astro-Space Division develops spaceborne compression systems for compression ratios from as little as three to as much as twenty-to-one for high-fidelity reconstructions. Current hardware production and development at Astro-Space Division focuses on discrete cosine transform (DCT) systems implemented with the GE PFFT chip, a 32x32 2D-DCT engine. Spectral relations in the data are exploited through block mean extraction followed by orthonormal transformation. The transformation produces blocks with spatial correlation that are suitable for further compression with any block-oriented spatial compression system, e.g., Astro-Space Division's Laplacian modeler and analytic encoder of DCT coefficients.

Miettinen, Kristo↗
NASA NTRS1993

Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) observations of galaxies

Ultraviolet images of several galaxies were obtained during the ASTRO-1 shuttle mission in December, 1990. The images have a FWHM angular resolution of approximately 3 arcsecond and are of circular fields approximately 40 arcminutes in diameter. Most galaxies were observed in at least two and sometimes as many as four broad bands. A very few fields were observed with narrower band filters. The most basic result of these observations is that most systems look dramatically different in the UV from their well-known optical appearances. Preliminary results of these studies will be presented. Information will be available on fields observed by the UTI during the ASTRO 1 mission; when that data becomes public it can be obtained from the NSSDC. The ASTRO observatory is expected to fly again in 1994 with approximately half of the observing time from that mission devoted to guest observers. The Ultraviolet Imaging telescope is extremely well suited for galaxy studies, and the UIT term is interested in encouraging a wide range of scientific studies by guest observers. Ultraviolet Imaging telescope is extremely well suited for galaxy studies, and the UIT team is interested in encouraging a wide range of scientific studies by guest observers.

Neff, S. G.↗
NASA NTRS2004

X-ray Spectrometer

The X-ray Spectrometer (XRS) instrument is a revolutionary non-dispersive spectrometer that will form the basis for the Astro-E2 observatory to be launched in 2005. We have recently installed a flight spare X R S microcalorimeter spectrometer at the EBIT-I facility at LLNL replacing the XRS from the earlier Astro-E mission and providing twice the resolution. The X R S microcalorimeter is an x-ray detector that senses the heat deposited by the incident photon. It achieves a high energy resolution by operating at 0.06K and by carefully controlling the heat capacity and thermal conductance. The XRS/EBIT instrument has 32 pixels in a square geometry and achieves an energy resolution of 6 eV at 6 keV, with a bandpass from 0.1 to 12 keV (or more at higher operating temperature). The instrument allows detailed studies of the x-ray line emission of laboratory plasmas. The XRS/EBIT also provides an extensive calibration "library" for the Astro-E2 observatory.

Porter, F. Scott↗
NASA NTRS2004

Space Network Devices Developed

The NASA Glenn Research Center through a contract with Spectrum Astro, Inc., has been developing space network hardware as an enabling technology using open systems interconnect (OSI) standards for space-based communications applications. The OSI standard is a well-recognized layered reference model that specifies how data should be sent node to node in a communications network. Because of this research and technology development, a space-qualifiable Ethernet-based network interface card (similar to the type found in a networked personal computer) and the associated four-port hub were designed and developed to flight specifications. During this research and development, there also have been many lessons learned for determining approaches for migrating existing spacecraft architectures to an OSI-network-based platform. Industry has recognized the benefits of targeting hardware developed around OSI standards such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) or similar protocols for use in future generations of space communication systems. Some of these tangible benefits include overall reductions in mission schedule and cost and in system complexity. This development also brings us a step closer to the realization of a principal investigator on a terrestrial Internet site being able to interact with space platform assets in near real time. To develop this hardware, Spectrum Astro first conducted a technology analysis of alternatives study. For this analysis, they looked at the features of three protocol specifications: Ethernet (IEEE 802.3), Firewire (IEEE 1394), and Spacewire (IEEE 1355). A thorough analysis was performed on the basis of criteria such as current protocol performance and suitability for future space applications. Spectrum Astro also projected future influences such as cost, hardware and software availability, throughput performance, and integration procedures for current and transitive space architectures. After a thorough analysis, Ethernet was chosen because it was seen as the best longer term fit because of the prevalent commercial market; the current and projected availability of hardware, software, and development tools; and the ease of architecture integration.

Jones, Robert E.↗
NASA NTRS2010

High Resolution, Non-Dispersive X-Ray Calorimeter Spectrometers on EBITs and Orbiting Observatories

X-ray spectroscopy is the primary tool for performing atomic physics with Electron beam ion trap (EBITs). X-ray instruments have generally fallen into two general categories, 1) dispersive instruments with very high spectral resolving powers but limited spectral range, limited count rates, and require an entrance slit, generally, for EBITs, defined by the electron beam itself, and 2) non-dispersive solid-state detectors with much lower spectral resolving powers but that have a broad dynamic range, high count rate ability and do not require a slit. Both of these approaches have compromises that limit the type and efficiency of measurements that can be performed. In 1984 NASA initiated a program to produce a non-dispersive instrument with high spectral resolving power for x-ray astrophysics based on the cryogenic x-ray calorimeter. This program produced the XRS non-dispersive spectrometers on the Astro-E, Astro-E2 (Suzaku) orbiting observatories, the SXS instrument on the Astro-H observatory, and the planned XMS instrument on the International X-ray Observatory. Complimenting these spaceflight programs, a permanent high-resolution x-ray calorimeter spectrometer, the XRS/EBIT, was installed on the LLNL EBIT in 2000. This unique instrument was upgraded to a spectral resolving power of 1000 at 6 keV in 2003 and replaced by a nearly autonomous production-class spectrometer, the EBIT Calorimeter Spectrometer (ECS), in 2007. The ECS spectrometer has a simultaneous bandpass from 0.07 to over 100 keV with a spectral resolving power of 1300 at 6 keV with unit quantum efficiency, and 1900 at 60 keV with a quantum efficiency of 30%. X-ray calorimeters are event based, single photon spectrometers with event time tagging to better than 10 us. We are currently developing a follow-on instrument based on a newer generation of x-ray calorimeters with a spectral resolving power of 3000 at 6 keV, and improved timing and measurement cadence. The unique capabilities of the x-ray calorimeter spectrometer, coupled with higher spectral resolution dispersive spectrometers to resolve line blends, has enabled many science investigations, to date mostly in our x-ray laboratory astrophysics program. These include measurements of absolute cross sections for Land K shell emission from Fe and Ni, charge exchange measurements in many astrophysically abundant elements, lifetime measurements, line ratios, and wavelength measurements. In addition, we have performed many additional measurements in nuclear physics, and in support of diagnostics for laser fusion, for example. In this presentation we will give a detailed overview of x-ray calorimeter instruments in general and in our EBIT laboratory astrophysics program in particular. We will also discuss the science yield of our measurements at EBIT over the last decade) prospects for future science enabled by the current generation of spectrometers and that will be expanded in the near future by the next generation of spectrometers starting in 2611.

Porter, Frederick S.↗
NASA NTRS2016

A Broadband X-Ray Imaging Spectroscopy with High-Angular Resolution: the FORCE Mission

We are proposing FORCE (Focusing On Relativistic universe and Cosmic Evolution) as a future Japan-lead X-ray observatory to be launched in the mid 2020s. Hitomi (ASTRO-H) possesses a suite of sensitive instruments enabling the highest energy-resolution spectroscopy in soft X-ray band, a broadband X-ray imaging spectroscopy in soft and hard X-ray bands, and further high energy coverage up to soft gamma-ray band. FORCE is the direct successor to the broadband X-ray imaging spectroscopy aspect of Hitomi (ASTRO-H) with significantly higher angular resolution. The current design of FORCE defines energy band pass of 1-80 keV with angular resolution of <15" in half-power diameter, achieving a 10 times higher sensitivity above 10 keV compared to any previous missions with simultaneous soft X-ray coverage. Our primary scientific objective is to trace the cosmic formation history by searching for "missing black holes" in various mass-scales: "buried supermassive black holes (SMBHs)" (> 10(exp 4) Stellar Mass) residing in the center of galaxies in a cosmological distance, "intermediate-mass black holes" (10(exp 2)-(10(exp 4) Stellar Mass) acting as the possible seeds from which SMBHs grow, and "orphan stellar-mass black holes" (< 10(exp 2) Stellar Mass) without companion in our Galaxy. In addition to these missing BHs, hunting for the nature of relativistic particles at various astrophysical shocks is also in our scope, utilizing the broadband X-ray coverage with high angular-resolution. FORCE are going to open a new era in these fields. The satellite is proposed to be launched with the Epsilon vehicle that is a Japanese current solid-fuel rocket. FORCE carries three identical pairs of Super-mirror and wide-band X-ray detector. The focal length is currently planned to be 10 m. The silicon mirror with multi-layer coating is our primary choice to achieve lightweight, good angular optics. The detector is a descendant of hard X-ray imager onboard Hitomi (ASTRO-H) replacing its silicon strip detector with SOI-CMOS silicon pixel detector, allowing an extension of the low energy threshold down to 1 keV or even less.

Hard X-ray↗
NASA NTRS2019

Improvement on the Magnetic Shielding for the XRISM/Resolve Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator

We report modeling, fabrication, cryogenic tensile testing, and magnetic field measurements of a shield around an adiabatic demagnetization stage (ADR) built for the XRISM/Resolve instrument. During testing of a near-identical stage built for Astro-H, a previous spaceflight mission, it was determined that the magnet at full current generated a field external to the shield that violated the maximum dipole-moment requirement of the spacecraft. In addition, there was an interference with the detector assembly nearby when the magnet was greater than 85% of it's typical maximum current. Starting with the Astro-H shield design, we performed a parametric study that increased the thickness of the shield in critical regions. This calculation proceeded until the magnetic field satisfied the estimated maximum field allowed at the detector array based upon the Astro-H measurements. We also performed a detailed measurement of the field generated by the ADR stage at full current as a function of relative angle between the magnet axis and a series of flux-gate magnetometers. Details and results from the calculation and subsequent measurement will be presented.

ADR↗