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The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) Mission Overview

Presentation #301.01 in the session “First Results and Future Prospects from the Imaging X-ray Polarization Explorer (IXPE)”.

Published onApr 01, 2022
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) Mission Overview

Subsequent to its successful launch by a Falcon 9 on 2021 December 9, IXPE entered an equatorial orbit at an altitude of 600 kilometers. A 30-day commissioning period followed during which all systems of the IXPE Observatory were brought online and checked out. Perhaps the most exciting events during commissioning were deployment of the solar panels immediately after separation from the Falcon-9 second stage and, about a week later, extension of the boom that provides appropriate placement of the detectors with respect to the mirror modules. Each of these events had to be successful and they were. After an overview of the IXPE mission, we shall discuss some details of the commissioning, with emphasis on detector performance and relative alignments.

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