Ground calibration plan for the Athena/X-IFU microcalorimeter spectrometer
Molin A, Pajot F, Audard M, Barbera M, Beaumont S, Cucchetti E, D’Andrea M, Daniel C, Den Hartog R, Eckart ME, Ferrando P, Gottardi L, Leutenegger M, Lotti S, Natalucci L, Peille P, De Plaa J, Pointecouteau E, Porter S, Sato K, Wilms J, Albouys V, Barret D, Cappi M, Den Herder JW, Piro L, Simionescu A (2026)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2026
Journal
Book Volume: 12
Article Number: 024008
Journal Issue: 2
DOI: 10.1117/1.JATIS.12.2.024008
Abstract
The X-ray Integral Field Unit is the X-ray imaging spectrometer on board one of ESA’s next large missions, Athena. Athena is set to investigate the theme of the Hot and Energetic Universe, with a launch planned in the late-2030s. Based on a high-sensitivity transition edge sensor (TES) detector array operated at very low temperature (50 mK), X-IFU will provide spatially resolved high-resolution spectroscopy of the X-ray sky in the 0.2 to 12 keV energy band, with an energy resolution goal of 4 eV up to 7 keV [3 eV design goal]. This paper presents the current calibration plan of the X-IFU. It provides the requirements applicable to the X-IFU calibration, describes the overall calibration strategy, and details the procedure and sources needed for the ground calibration of each parameter or characteristics of the X-IFU.
Authors with CRIS profile
Involved external institutions
Università degli Studi di Palermo
Italy (IT)
National Centre for Space Studies / Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES)
France (FR)
National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF)
Italy (IT)
Netherlands Institute for Space Research / Stichting Ruimteonderzoek Nederland (SRON)
Netherlands (NL)
Le Département d’Astrophysique, UMR (Unité Mixte de Recherche) AIM (Astrophysique, Instrumentation, Modelisation)
France (FR)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
United States (USA) (US)
Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP)
France (FR)
Saitama University / 埼玉大学
Japan (JP)
University of Geneva / Université de Genève (UNIGE)
Switzerland (CH)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
United States (USA) (US)
Italy (IT)
National Centre for Space Studies / Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES)
France (FR)
National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF)
Italy (IT)
Netherlands Institute for Space Research / Stichting Ruimteonderzoek Nederland (SRON)
Netherlands (NL)
Le Département d’Astrophysique, UMR (Unité Mixte de Recherche) AIM (Astrophysique, Instrumentation, Modelisation)
France (FR)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
United States (USA) (US)
Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP)
France (FR)
Saitama University / 埼玉大学
Japan (JP)
University of Geneva / Université de Genève (UNIGE)
Switzerland (CH)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
United States (USA) (US)
How to cite
APA:
Molin, A., Pajot, F., Audard, M., Barbera, M., Beaumont, S., Cucchetti, E.,... Simionescu, A. (2026). Ground calibration plan for the Athena/X-IFU microcalorimeter spectrometer. Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.12.2.024008
MLA:
Molin, Alexeï, et al. "Ground calibration plan for the Athena/X-IFU microcalorimeter spectrometer." Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 12.2 (2026).
BibTeX: Download