The ASTRO-H Mission

TL;DR

The ASTRO-H mission is a joint JAXA/NASA project designed to explore high-energy astrophysics through wide-band, high-resolution X-ray and gamma-ray spectroscopy, enabling new scientific discoveries about the universe.

Contribution

It introduces a new space observatory with advanced instruments for simultaneous broad-band X-ray and gamma-ray observations, combining high spectral resolution with wide energy coverage.

Findings

Successful development of high-resolution micro-calorimeter system.

Wide energy coverage from 0.3 keV to 600 keV achieved.

Enhanced capability for high-energy universe investigations.

Abstract

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe by performing high-resolution, high-throughput spectroscopy with moderate angular resolution. ASTRO-H covers very wide energy range from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. ASTRO-H allows a combination of wide band X-ray spectroscopy (5-80 keV) provided by multilayer coating, focusing hard X-ray mirrors and hard X-ray imaging detectors, and high energy-resolution soft X-ray spectroscopy (0.3-12 keV) provided by thin-foil X-ray optics and a micro-calorimeter array. The mission will also carry an X-ray CCD camera as a focal plane detector for a soft X-ray telescope (0.4-12 keV) and a non-focusing soft gamma-ray detector (40-600 keV) . The micro-calorimeter system is developed by an international collaboration led by ISAS/JAXA and NASA. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution of Delta E ~7 eV provided by the micro-calorimeter will enable a wide variety of important science themes to be pursued.