The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)is part of the scientific payload of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)mission.SMILE is a joint science mission between the European Space Agency(ESA)and the Chinese...The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)is part of the scientific payload of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)mission.SMILE is a joint science mission between the European Space Agency(ESA)and the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)and is due for launch in 2025.SXI is a compact X-ray telescope with a wide field-of-view(FOV)capable of encompassing large portions of Earth’s magnetosphere from the vantage point of the SMILE orbit.SXI is sensitive to the soft X-rays produced by the Solar Wind Charge eXchange(SWCX)process produced when heavy ions of solar wind origin interact with neutral particles in Earth’s exosphere.SWCX provides a mechanism for boundary detection within the magnetosphere,such as the position of Earth’s magnetopause,because the solar wind heavy ions have a very low density in regions of closed magnetic field lines.The sensitivity of the SXI is such that it can potentially track movements of the magnetopause on timescales of a few minutes and the orbit of SMILE will enable such movements to be tracked for segments lasting many hours.SXI is led by the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom(UK)with collaborating organisations on hardware,software and science support within the UK,Europe,China and the United States.展开更多
While we eagerly anticipate SMILE’s(Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer)unprecedented X-ray observations of the Earth’s magnetosheath and the initiation of a new era of magnetospheric research,it seems...While we eagerly anticipate SMILE’s(Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer)unprecedented X-ray observations of the Earth’s magnetosheath and the initiation of a new era of magnetospheric research,it seems appropriate to look ahead to the abilities of the next generation of astrophysics missions.Of these,the Line Emission Mapper(LEM),a large aperture micro-calorimeter based mission,is currently planned to be able to observe the magnetosheath at high spectral resolution(~2 eV).With a field of view of~30′,LEM will allow higher spatial resolution and higher cadence measurement of the motion of a very small portion of the magnetopause over relatively short periods of time(multiple hours),complementing SMILE’s global mapping.LEM’s strength is its spectral resolution.It will be able to measure the abundance of a broad range of elements and ionization states,many of which are inaccessible to current in situ instruments,and will be able to separate the emission from the magnetosheath from the emission from the cosmic X-ray background using the difference in their relative velocities.展开更多
基金funding and support from the United Kingdom Space Agency(UKSA)the European Space Agency(ESA)+5 种基金funded and supported through the ESA PRODEX schemefunded through PRODEX PEA 4000123238the Research Council of Norway grant 223252funded by Spanish MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 grant PID2019-107061GB-C61funding and support from the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)funding and support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA)。
文摘The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)is part of the scientific payload of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)mission.SMILE is a joint science mission between the European Space Agency(ESA)and the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)and is due for launch in 2025.SXI is a compact X-ray telescope with a wide field-of-view(FOV)capable of encompassing large portions of Earth’s magnetosphere from the vantage point of the SMILE orbit.SXI is sensitive to the soft X-rays produced by the Solar Wind Charge eXchange(SWCX)process produced when heavy ions of solar wind origin interact with neutral particles in Earth’s exosphere.SWCX provides a mechanism for boundary detection within the magnetosphere,such as the position of Earth’s magnetopause,because the solar wind heavy ions have a very low density in regions of closed magnetic field lines.The sensitivity of the SXI is such that it can potentially track movements of the magnetopause on timescales of a few minutes and the orbit of SMILE will enable such movements to be tracked for segments lasting many hours.SXI is led by the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom(UK)with collaborating organisations on hardware,software and science support within the UK,Europe,China and the United States.
基金financial support from CNES via its Sun-Heliosphere-Magnetosphere(SHM)programsupport from NASA grant#80NSSC20K1709。
文摘While we eagerly anticipate SMILE’s(Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer)unprecedented X-ray observations of the Earth’s magnetosheath and the initiation of a new era of magnetospheric research,it seems appropriate to look ahead to the abilities of the next generation of astrophysics missions.Of these,the Line Emission Mapper(LEM),a large aperture micro-calorimeter based mission,is currently planned to be able to observe the magnetosheath at high spectral resolution(~2 eV).With a field of view of~30′,LEM will allow higher spatial resolution and higher cadence measurement of the motion of a very small portion of the magnetopause over relatively short periods of time(multiple hours),complementing SMILE’s global mapping.LEM’s strength is its spectral resolution.It will be able to measure the abundance of a broad range of elements and ionization states,many of which are inaccessible to current in situ instruments,and will be able to separate the emission from the magnetosheath from the emission from the cosmic X-ray background using the difference in their relative velocities.
