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- Title
Calibration and Performance of the REgolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) Aboard NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission to Bennu.
- Authors
Hong, Jaesub; Binzel, Richard P.; Allen, Branden; Guevel, David; Grindlay, Jonathan; Hoak, Daniel; Masterson, Rebecca; Chodas, Mark; Lambert, Madeline; Thayer, Carolyn; Bokhour, Ed; Biswas, Pronoy; Mendenhall, Jeffrey A.; Ryu, Kevin; Kelly, James; Warner, Keith; Lim, Lucy F.; Bartels, Arlin; Lauretta, Dante S.; Boynton, William V.
- Abstract
The REgolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) instrument on board NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission to the asteroid Bennu is a Class-D student collaboration experiment designed to detect fluoresced X-rays from the asteroid's surface to measure elemental abundances. In July and November 2019 REXIS collected ∼615 hours of integrated exposure time of Bennu's sun-illuminated surface from terminator orbits. As reported in Hoak et al. (Results from the REgolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) at Bennu, 2021) the REXIS data do not contain a clear signal of X-ray fluorescence from the asteroid, in part due to the low incident solar X-ray flux during periods of observation. To support the evaluation of the upper limits on the detectable X-ray signal that may provide insights for the properties of Bennu's regolith, we present an overview of the REXIS instrument, its operation, and details of its in-flight calibration on astrophysical X-ray sources. This calibration includes the serendipitous detection of the transient X-ray binary MAXI J0637-430 during Bennu observations, demonstrating the operational success of REXIS at the asteroid. We convey some lessons learned for future X-ray spectroscopy imaging investigations of asteroid surfaces.
- Subjects
UNITED States. National Aeronautics &; Space Administration; X-ray imaging; X-ray spectrometers; REGOLITH; SPECTRAL imaging; X-ray astronomy; CALIBRATION; ASTEROIDS; X-ray fluorescence
- Publication
Space Science Reviews, 2021, Vol 217, Issue 8, p1
- ISSN
0038-6308
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11214-021-00853-4