MAXI (ISS Experiment)

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The Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) use several highly sensitive X-ray detectors, including the Gas Slit Camera (GSC) and the Solid-state Slit Camera (SSC), located at the Equipment Exchange Unit (EER) site 1 on the Japanese Experiment Module - Exposed Facility (JEF), aboard the International Space Station. [1]

X-ray Röntgen radiation

X-rays make up X-radiation, a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz (3×1016 Hz to 3×1019 Hz) and energies in the range 100 eV to 100 keV. X-ray wavelengths are shorter than those of UV rays and typically longer than those of gamma rays. In many languages, X-radiation is referred to as Röntgen radiation, after the German scientist Wilhelm Röntgen, who discovered it on November 8, 1895. He named it X-radiation to signify an unknown type of radiation. Spelling of X-ray(s) in the English language includes the variants x-ray(s), xray(s), and X ray(s).

International Space Station Habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit

The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station in low Earth orbit. The ISS programme is a joint project between five participating space agencies: NASA, Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements.

Contents

History

MAXI was developed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Tsukuba, Japan, and is designed to continuously monitor X-ray sources and variability as the International Space Station (ISS) orbits Earth. It was launched in 2009.

MAXI conducts a full sky survey every 96 minutes searching for variations in X-ray sources.

MAXI helped discover the rapidly rotating black-hole/star system MAXI J1659-152. [2]

MAXI J1659-152 is a rapidly rotating black-hole/star system, discovered by NASA's Swift space telescope on September 25, 2010. On March 19, 2013, ESA's XMM-Newton space telescope has helped to identify a star and a black hole that orbit each other at the rate of once every 2.4 hours.

Discoveries

MAXI has been in operation for several years and has made several x-ray photos of nebulae and space objects while being stationed on the ISS (International Space Station).

iWF-MAXI

iSEEP Wide-Field MAXI (iWF-MAXI) is a follow-on instrument to the current MAXI. Compared with MAXI, which can only monitor 2% of the celestial sphere instantaneously, iWF-MAXI is always capable of monitoring 10%, and can monitor up to 80% in 92 minutes. iWF-MAXI will utilize the i-SEEP (IVA-replaceable Small Exposed Experiment Platform) bus, an exposure adapter for middle-sized payloads in JEM-EF. Chosen as an ISAS Mission of Opportunity in 2015, [3] iWF-MAXI is currently targeted to begin observation at the ISS by 2019. [4]

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Japanese research institute

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) is a Japanese national research organization of astrophysics using rockets, astronomical satellites and interplanetary probes which played a major role in Japan's space development. Since 2003, it is a division of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

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References

  1. ↑ Staff (18 April 2018). "international Space Station - Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) - 04.25.18 - ISS Science for Everyone - Science Objectives for Everyone". NASA . Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  2. ↑ E. Kuulkers, et al. - MAXI J1659-152: The shortest orbital period black-hole transient in outburst (2012)
  3. ↑ "第 48 回宇宙理学委員会 議事録" (PDF) (in Japanese). Steering Committee for Space Science. Retrieved 13 November 2015.Cite web requires |website= (help)
  4. ↑ "iWF-MAXI soft X-ray transient monitor on the ISS" (PDF). JAXA. Retrieved 30 October 2015.Cite web requires |website= (help)
Riken scientific research institute in Japan

Riken (理研) is a large scientific research institute in Japan. Founded in 1917, it now has about 3,000 scientists on seven campuses across Japan, including the main site at Wakō, Saitama Prefecture, just outside Tokyo. Riken is a Designated National Research and Development Institute, and was formerly an Independent Administrative Institution. "Riken" is a contraction of the formal name Rikagaku Kenkyūjo (理化学研究所), and its full name in Japanese is Kokuritsu Kenkyū Kaihatsu Hōjin Rikagaku Kenkyūsho (国立研究開発法人理化学研究所) and in English is the National Institute of Physical and Chemical Research.

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