Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) On-board Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter

TL;DR

The Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) on Chandrayaan-2 measures solar X-rays to analyze lunar surface composition and solar corona, with high energy resolution and rapid data collection capabilities.

Contribution

This paper presents the design, realization, and characterization of the XSM instrument on Chandrayaan-2, including its performance parameters and scientific objectives.

Findings

XSM achieves 180 eV energy resolution at 5.9 keV.

XSM provides high time cadence of one second.

XSM successfully measures solar X-ray spectra for lunar and solar studies.

Abstract

Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) is one of the scientific instruments on-board Chandrayaan-2 orbiter. The XSM along with instrument CLASS (Chandras Large Area Soft x-ray Spectrometer) comprise the remote X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy experiment of Chandrayaan-2 mission with an objective to determine the elemental composition of the lunar surface on a global scale. XSM instrument will measure the solar X-rays in the energy range of 1-15 keV using state-of-the-art Silicon Drift Detector (SDD). The Flight Model (FM) of the XSM payload has been designed, realized and characterized for various operating parameters. XSM provides energy resolution of 180 eV at 5.9 keV with high time cadence of one second. The X-ray spectra of the Sun observed with XSM will also contribute to the study of solar corona. The detailed description and the performance characteristics of the XSM instrument are presented in this paper.