ASCA (from the English. Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics - Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics; name before the launch of ASTRO-D) is the fourth orbital X-ray observatory in Japan , and the second, to which the USA has made a significant contribution. The observatory was created by a project team led by Minoru Oda at the Institute of Space Sciences and Astronautics (ISAS) ( Jap. 宇宙 科学 研究所 ) in collaboration with NASA . The observatory was launched on February 20, 1993 by the Japanese M-3S-II launch vehicle . After 8 years of work after the geomagnetic storm, control over the satellite was lost on July 14, 2000 , after which scientific observations were no longer carried out. The satellite entered the dense atmosphere and collapsed on March 2, 2001 .
| ASCA (Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics) | |
|---|---|
 ASCA | |
| Organization |  ISAS /  NASA |
| Wave range | X-rays |
| NSSDC ID | 1993-011A |
| Location | geocentric orbit |
| Orbit type | low booty |
| Orbit height | 600 km |
| Period of treatment | 96 minutes |
| Launch date | February 20, 1993 02:20 UTC |
| Launch place | Utinoura |
| Means of putting into orbit | M-3S-II |
| Duration | 8 years |
| Date of detour | March 2, 2001 |
| Weight | 417 kg |
| Type of telescope | position sensitive spectrometers |
| Scientific instruments | |
| position sensitive gas proportional meter |
| position-sensitive solid-state spectrometer |
| Site | heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/do... |
Content
Tools
The observatory carried 4 x-ray oblique telescopes with two gas proportional counter-spectrometer (GIS) and solid-state position-sensitive spectrometers (SIS) [1] .
GIS
Two position-sensitive gas spectrometers (GIS) observatories were developed and produced at the University of Tokyo . The spectrometers were filled with a mixture of xenon (90%) and helium (10%). The front wall of the spectrometer was made of beryllium with a thickness of 10 microns . The voltage in the gas chambers is 8 kV . Photomultipliers of the spectrometer were produced by Hamamatsu Photonics engineers .
The photosensitive part of the spectrometer was 50 mm in diameter . The operating range of the spectrometer is 0.7-10 keV, the energy resolution is 8% for energy 5.9 keV. The field of view is circular, with a diameter of 50 ang. minutes .
SIS
The development and production of solid-state position-sensitive spectrometers SIS is a joint work of engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) , the Institute of Space Sciences and Aeronautics (ISAS, Japan) and Osaka University . The main spectrometer was 4 CCD , 420x422 elements in size. The working energy range is 0.4-10 keV, the energy resolution is 2% for energy 5.9 keV, the field of view is 22x22 angles per minute.
Main results
- Detection of broad emission lines in the spectra of accreting black holes - indicating the influence on their profile of effects of the general theory of relativity [2]
- Measurement of temperature profiles in clusters of galaxies [3]
- Measurement of the abundance of heavy elements in the spectra of active corona stars
- Detection of non-thermal radiation from the SN 1006 supernova remnant [4]
- The discovery of fluorescent emission lines of neutral iron in the region of the Galactic center - additional evidence of the past activity of a supermassive black hole in the center of our Galaxy [5]
- Measurement of the abundance of heavy elements in galaxies and clusters of galaxies
Links
See also
- List of spacecraft with x-ray and gamma detectors on board