SMILE Soft X-ray Imager (SXI)
Date: 25 February 2019
Satellite: SMILE
Depicts: SXI instrument
Copyright: U. Leicester, UK
The soft X-ray imager, or SXI, is one of four instrument and experiment packages on the SMILE spacecraft.
SXI is a wide-field lobster-eye telescope using micropore optics to spectrally map the location, shape, and motion of Earth's magnetospheric boundaries, including the bow shock, magnetopause, and cusps, by observing emission from the solar wind charge exchange (SWCX) process.
The SXI is equipped with two large X-ray-sensitive CCD detectors – located in the optical bench behind the radiator – covering the 0.2 keV to 2.5 keV energy band, and has an optic field of view spanning 15.5° × 26°.
SXI is developed, built, and calibrated at the University of Leicester, UK, and other institutions throughout Europe. Specific software is developed in partnership with NSSC (National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences). The CCDs are procured from e2v, UK by ESA.
