[交通运输]SOLAR X-RAY SPECTROMETER SOXS MISSION ON BOARD.pdf

Solar Physics (2005) 227: 89–122 C Springer 2005 SOLAR X-RAY SPECTROMETER (SOXS) MISSION ON BOARD GSAT2 INDIAN SPACECRAFT: THE LOW-ENERGY PAYLOAD RAJMAL JAIN, HEMANT DAVE, A. B. SHAH, N. M. VADHER, VISHAL M. SHAH, G. P. UBALE, K. S. B. MANIAN, CHIRAG M. SOLANKI, K. J. SHAH, SUMIT KUMAR, S. L. KAYASTH, V. D. PATEL, JAYSHREE J. TRIVEDI and M. R. DESHPANDE Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad 380009, India (e-mail: rajmal@prl.ernet.in) (Received 11 August 2004; accepted 24 November 2004) Abstract. The first space-borne solar astronomy experiment of India, namely “Solar X-ray Spec- trometer (SOXS)”, was successfully launched on 08 May 2003 on board geostationary satellite GSAT-2 of India. The SOXS is composed of two independent payloads, viz. SOXS Low-Energy Detector (SLD) Payload and SOXS High-Energy Detector (SHD) Payload. The SOXS aims to study the full-disk integrated X-ray emission in the energy range from 4 keV to 10 MeV. In this pa- per we present the first report on the SLD instrumentation and its in-orbit performance. The SLD payload was designed and developed at the Physical Research Laboratory in collaboration with var- ious centers of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The basic scientific aim of the SLD payload is to study solar flares in the energy range from 4 to 60 keV with high spectral and tem- poral resolution. To meet these requirements, the SLD payload employs state-of-the-art solid state detectors, the first time for a solar astronomy experiment, viz. Si PIN (4 –25 keV), and cadmium– zinc–telluride (4 –60 keV). With their superb high-energy resolution characteristics, SLD can ob- serve iron and ir