Design and verification of the HXI collimator onboard the ASO-S mission

TL;DR

This paper details the design, testing, and verification of a space-borne X-ray collimator for the ASO-S mission's solar observations, ensuring its readiness for launch and operation in space.

Contribution

It introduces the detailed design and testing procedures of the HXI collimator for the first Chinese solar mission, including qualification and beam tests.

Findings

The HXI collimator can withstand launch conditions.

The collimator performs reliably in simulated space environments.

Beam tests confirm the collimator's effective X-ray modulation.

Abstract

A space-borne hard X-ray collimator, comprising 91 pairs of grids, has been developed for the Hard X-ray Imager (HXI). The HXI is one of the three scientific instruments onboard the first Chinese solar mission: the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S). The HXI collimator (HXI-C) is a spatial modulation X-ray telescope designed to observe hard X-rays emitted by energetic electrons in solar flares. This paper presents the detailed design of the HXI-C for the qualification model that will be inherited by the flight model. Series tests on the HXI-C qualification model are reported to verify the ability of the HXI-C to survive the launch and to operate normally in on-orbit environments. Furthermore, results of the X-ray beam test for the HXI-C are presented to indirectly identify the working performance of the HXI-C.