D-CIXS

A demonstration of planetary X-ray detection for SMART-1 

News:

1 Jan 2005

D-CIXS

• D-CIXS is a Demonstration of a Compact Imaging X-ray Spectrometer selected as part of the payload for SMART-1, an ESA technology demonstration mission to the Moon, due for launch on Aug 28 2003.
• Prof. Manuel Grande is the Principal Investigator of D-CIXS, in the Planets and Space Plasma Group at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
• D-CIXS employs radical new technology to greatly reduce the mass and volume of the instrument. It will represent a new generation of x-ray instruments for planetary observation.
• The main science goal of the instrument is to produce the first global map of the surface of the Moon in X-rays.
• Also onboard will be an X-ray Solar Monitor (XSM), capable of monitoring the output of the Sun so that absolute abundance measurements can be derived from the D-CIXS data.
• D-CIXS is also a demonstration of an instrument that would be ideal for the BepiColombo cornerstone mission to Mercury.
• A list of principal contacts for D-CIXS/XSM can be found here.
• D-CIXS specific documents can be found here.

Find out more about:

• The science to be undertaken with D-CIXS/XSM.
• The X-ray Solar Monitor (Helsinki).
• The D-CIXS communication plan and publications.
• ESA's SMART-1 mission.
• The Moon.
• The Planets and Space Plasmas Group at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
• The people involved in the mission.
• Presentation material for the D-CIXS team.
• Animations - download a 2MB MPEG showing the mapping of 8 and 2 degree Field Of View instruments for a single SMART-1 lunar orbit.
• ESA's BepiColombo cornerstone mission to Mercury

The UK led team includes members from:  

• Rutherford Appleton Lab, UK
• University of Helsinki, Finland
• University of Sheffield, UK
• Queen Mary and Westfield College, UK
• Natural History Museum, London, UK
• Max Planck Institut fur Aeronomie, Lindau, Germany
• Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
• Lab for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, USA
• Armagh Observatory, UK
• CESR, France
• OMP, France
• ISAS, Japan
• UPC, Spain
• GSFC, USA
• Metorex, Finland
• LANL, USA

Team List and Email Contact

For information on Planets and Magnetospheres at RAL, contact Prof. Manuel Grande
E-mail:M.Grande@rl.ac.uk, or Phone us at +44 1235 446501 or FAX your request to +44 1235 445848.

This page is maintained by Manuel Grande, last modified - 24 January 2004.