XRISM

XRISM turntable animations, available both as 4K/30 and 60 fps movies and as frames. The exposed tank behind the truss structure on the side opposite the solar panels houses the Resolve instrument.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab || This page contains animations and illustrations of the X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch into orbit around Earth in 2023.The mission, abbreviated XRISM (pronounced “crism”), is a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA, along with ESA (the European Space Agency) participation, to investigate the X-ray universe using high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy. XRISM features two instruments: Resolve, an X-ray calorimeter spectrometer, and Xtend, an X-ray imager. Cooled to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, Resolve’s detector can measure the slight amount of heat generated when each pixel absorbs a single X-ray photon. Xtend will image a field of view about 60% larger than the apparent size of a full moon, giving it XRISM the widest view of any X-ray imaging satellite flown to date. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, developed the X-ray Mirror Assemblies used for both instruments, as well as the Resolve detector and many of its subsystems. ||

XRISM team members pose with the XRISM Calorimeter Spectrometer Insert in a NASA Goddard clean room. From left to right, they are Bryan James, Mike Sampson, Tomomi Watanabe, Pete Barfknecht, Scott Porter, and Sinclair Douglas.Credit: Larry Gilbert/NASA || The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM, pronounced “crism”) is a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA, along with ESA participation, to investigate the X-ray universe using high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy. XRISM features two instruments: Resolve, an X-ray calorimeter spectrometer, and Xtend, an X-ray imager.The first group of images, taken in November 2019, shows scientists and technicians in a clean room performing an electrical checkout of the XRISM Calorimeter Spectrometer Insert (CSI), which includes the Resolve detector. The remaining images were taken in December 2019 and show testing and calibration of a completed flight X-ray Mirror Assembly (XMA) at the 100-meter X-ray beamline facility at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Goddard developed the X-ray Mirror Assemblies, as well as the Resolve detector and many of its subsystems. XRISM is expected to launch in 2023. ||

XRISM team member Yang Soong, a researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park, displays completed mirror elements for an X-ray Mirror Assembly developed for the JAXA/NASA mission. Credit: Taylor Mickal/NASA || The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM, pronounced “crism”) is a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA, along with ESA participation, to investigate the X-ray universe using high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy. XRISM features two instruments: Resolve, an X-ray calorimeter spectrometer, and Xtend, an X-ray imager. These images, taken in June 2019, show completed elements of one XRISM flight X-ray Mirror Assembly (XMA). Each XMA includes both a primary and a secondary mirror. Each mirror has four quadrants with 203 nested foil mirror segments apiece, for a total of 1,624 mirror segments in one XMA. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center developed the X-ray Mirror Assemblies, as well as the Resolve detector and many of its subsystems. XRISM is expected to launch in 2023. ||

Team members Lawrence Lozipone of Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies, Inc. and Yang Soong, a researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park, work with flight mirrors for the X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM). Nested aluminum mirror segments – 1,624 of them for each X-ray Mirror Assembly – focus the incoming X-rays for the satellite's science instruments. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || The videos on this page show completed components of the flight mirror assemblies for the X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM, pronounced “crism”), which is expected to launch from Japan in 2023.An X-ray Mirror Assembly (XMA) includes both a primary and a secondary mirror. Each is built using four quadrants that contain 203 nested aluminum mirror segments, for a total of 1,624 segments in each XMA. The mirrors will deflect incoming light into the satellite’s two instruments: an X-ray calorimeter spectrometer called Resolve, and an X-ray imager called Xtend.XRISM is a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA, along with ESA participation, to investigate the X-ray universe using high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center developed the XMAs for both instruments, as well as the Resolve detector and many of its subsystems. ||