Abstract
The Athena X-ray Integral Unit (X-IFU) is the high resolution X-ray spectrometer studied since 2015 for flying in the mid-30s on the Athena space X-ray Observatory. Athena is a versatile observatory designed to address the Hot and Energetic Universe science theme, as selected in November 2013 by the Survey Science Committee. Based on a large format array of Transition Edge Sensors (TES), X-IFU aims to provide spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy, with a spectral resolution of 2.5 eV (up to 7 keV) over a hexagonal field of view of 5 arc minutes (equivalent diameter). The X-IFU entered its System Requirement Review (SRR) in June 2022, at about the same time when ESA called for an overall X-IFU redesign (including the X-IFU cryostat and the cooling chain), due to an unanticipated cost overrun of Athena. In this paper, after illustrating the breakthrough capabilities of the X-IFU, we describe the instrument as presented at its SRR (i.e. in the course of its preliminary definition phase, so-called B1), browsing through all the subsystems and associated requirements. We then show the instrument budgets, with a particular emphasis on the anticipated budgets of some of its key performance parameters, such as the instrument efficiency, spectral resolution, energy scale knowledge, count rate capability, non X-ray background and target of opportunity efficiency. Finally, we briefly discuss the ongoing key technology demonstration activities, the calibration and the activities foreseen in the X-IFU Instrument Science Center, touch on communication and outreach activities, the consortium organisation and the life cycle assessment of X-IFU aiming at minimising the environmental footprint, associated with the development of the instrument. Thanks to the studies conducted so far on X-IFU, it is expected that along the design-to-cost exercise requested by ESA, the X-IFU will maintain flagship capabilities in spatially resolved high resolution X-ray spectroscopy, enabling most of the original X-IFU related scientific objectives of the Athena mission to be retained. The X-IFU will be provided by an international consortium led by France, The Netherlands and Italy, with ESA member state contributions from Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, with additional contributions from the United States and Japan.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 373-426 |
| Number of pages | 54 |
| Journal | Experimental Astronomy |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr-2023 |
Keywords
- Athena: the advanced telescope for high energy astrophysics
- Observatory
- Space instrumentation
- X-IFU: The X-ray Integral Field Unit
- X-rays
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In: Experimental Astronomy, Vol. 55, No. 2, 04.2023, p. 373-426.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit
T2 - A consolidated design for the system requirement review of the preliminary definition phase
AU - Barret, Didier
AU - Albouys, Vincent
AU - Herder, Jan Willem den
AU - Piro, Luigi
AU - Cappi, Massimo
AU - Huovelin, Juhani
AU - Kelley, Richard
AU - Mas-Hesse, J. Miguel
AU - Paltani, Stéphane
AU - Rauw, Gregor
AU - Rozanska, Agata
AU - Svoboda, Jiri
AU - Wilms, Joern
AU - Yamasaki, Noriko
AU - Audard, Marc
AU - Bandler, Simon
AU - Barbera, Marco
AU - Barcons, Xavier
AU - Bozzo, Enrico
AU - Ceballos, Maria Teresa
AU - Charles, Ivan
AU - Costantini, Elisa
AU - Dauser, Thomas
AU - Decourchelle, Anne
AU - Duband, Lionel
AU - Duval, Jean Marc
AU - Fiore, Fabrizio
AU - Gatti, Flavio
AU - Goldwurm, Andrea
AU - Hartog, Roland den
AU - Jackson, Brian
AU - Jonker, Peter
AU - Kilbourne, Caroline
AU - Korpela, Seppo
AU - Macculi, Claudio
AU - Mendez, Mariano
AU - Mitsuda, Kazuhisa
AU - Molendi, Silvano
AU - Pajot, François
AU - Pointecouteau, Etienne
AU - Porter, Frederick
AU - Pratt, Gabriel W.
AU - Prêle, Damien
AU - Ravera, Laurent
AU - Sato, Kosuke
AU - Schaye, Joop
AU - Shinozaki, Keisuke
AU - Skup, Konrad
AU - Soucek, Jan
AU - Thibert, Tanguy
AU - Vink, Jacco
AU - Webb, Natalie
AU - Chaoul, Laurence
AU - Raulin, Desi
AU - Simionescu, Aurora
AU - Torrejon, Jose Miguel
AU - Acero, Fabio
AU - Branduardi-Raymont, Graziella
AU - Ettori, Stefano
AU - Finoguenov, Alexis
AU - Grosso, Nicolas
AU - Kaastra, Jelle
AU - Mazzotta, Pasquale
AU - Miller, Jon
AU - Miniutti, Giovanni
AU - Nicastro, Fabrizio
AU - Sciortino, Salvatore
AU - Yamaguchi, Hiroya
AU - Beaumont, Sophie
AU - Cucchetti, Edoardo
AU - D’Andrea, Matteo
AU - Eckart, Megan
AU - Ferrando, Philippe
AU - Kammoun, Elias
AU - Lotti, Simone
AU - Mesnager, Jean Michel
AU - Natalucci, Lorenzo
AU - Peille, Philippe
AU - de Plaa, Jelle
AU - Ardellier, Florence
AU - Argan, Andrea
AU - Bellouard, Elise
AU - Carron, Jérôme
AU - Cavazzuti, Elisabetta
AU - Fiorini, Mauro
AU - Khosropanah, Pourya
AU - Martin, Sylvain
AU - Perry, James
AU - Pinsard, Frederic
AU - Pradines, Alice
AU - Rigano, Manuela
AU - Roelfsema, Peter
AU - Schwander, Denis
AU - Torrioli, Guido
AU - Ullom, Joel
AU - Vera, Isabel
AU - Villegas, Eduardo Medinaceli
AU - Zuchniak, Monika
AU - Brachet, Frank
AU - Cicero, Ugo Lo
AU - Doriese, William
AU - Durkin, Malcom
AU - Fioretti, Valentina
AU - Geoffray, Hervé
AU - Jacques, Lionel
AU - Kirsch, Christian
AU - Smith, Stephen
AU - Adams, Joseph
AU - Gloaguen, Emilie
AU - Hoogeveen, Ruud
AU - van der Hulst, Paul
AU - Kiviranta, Mikko
AU - van der Kuur, Jan
AU - Ledot, Aurélien
AU - van Leeuwen, Bert Joost
AU - van Loon, Dennis
AU - Lyautey, Bertrand
AU - Parot, Yann
AU - Sakai, Kazuhiro
AU - van Weers, Henk
AU - Abdoelkariem, Shariefa
AU - Adam, Thomas
AU - Adami, Christophe
AU - Aicardi, Corinne
AU - Akamatsu, Hiroki
AU - Alonso, Pablo Eleazar Merino
AU - Amato, Roberta
AU - André, Jérôme
AU - Angelinelli, Matteo
AU - Anon-Cancela, Manuel
AU - Anvar, Shebli
AU - Atienza, Ricardo
AU - Attard, Anthony
AU - Auricchio, Natalia
AU - Balado, Ana
AU - Bancel, Florian
AU - Barusso, Lorenzo Ferrari
AU - Bascuñan, Arturo
AU - Bernard, Vivian
AU - Berrocal, Alicia
AU - Blin, Sylvie
AU - Bonino, Donata
AU - Bonnet, François
AU - Bonny, Patrick
AU - Boorman, Peter
AU - Boreux, Charles
AU - Bounab, Ayoub
AU - Boutelier, Martin
AU - Boyce, Kevin
AU - Brienza, Daniele
AU - Bruijn, Marcel
AU - Bulgarelli, Andrea
AU - Calarco, Simona
AU - Callanan, Paul
AU - Campello, Alberto Prada
AU - Camus, Thierry
AU - Canourgues, Florent
AU - Capobianco, Vito
AU - Cardiel, Nicolas
AU - Castellani, Florent
AU - Cheatom, Oscar
AU - Chervenak, James
AU - Chiarello, Fabio
AU - Clerc, Laurent
AU - Clerc, Nicolas
AU - Cobo, Beatriz
AU - Coeur-Joly, Odile
AU - Coleiro, Alexis
AU - Colonges, Stéphane
AU - Corcione, Leonardo
AU - Coriat, Mickael
AU - Coynel, Alexandre
AU - Cuttaia, Francesco
AU - D’Ai, Antonino
AU - D’anca, Fabio
AU - Dadina, Mauro
AU - Daniel, Christophe
AU - Dauner, Lea
AU - DeNigris, Natalie
AU - Dercksen, Johannes
AU - DiPirro, Michael
AU - Doumayrou, Eric
AU - Dubbeldam, Luc
AU - Dupieux, Michel
AU - Dupourqué, Simon
AU - Durand, Jean Louis
AU - Eckert, Dominique
AU - Eiriz, Valvanera
AU - Ercolani, Eric
AU - Etcheverry, Christophe
AU - Finkbeiner, Fred
AU - Fiocchi, Mariateresa
AU - Fossecave, Hervé
AU - Franssen, Philippe
AU - Frericks, Martin
AU - Gabici, Stefano
AU - Gant, Florent
AU - Gao, Jian Rong
AU - Gastaldello, Fabio
AU - Genolet, Ludovic
AU - Ghizzardi, Simona
AU - Gil, Ma Angeles Alcacera
AU - Giovannini, Elisa
AU - Godet, Olivier
AU - Gomez-Elvira, Javier
AU - Gonzalez, Raoul
AU - Gonzalez, Manuel
AU - Gottardi, Luciano
AU - Granat, Dolorès
AU - Gros, Michel
AU - Guignard, Nicolas
AU - Hieltjes, Paul
AU - Hurtado, Adolfo Jesús
AU - Irwin, Kent
AU - Jacquey, Christian
AU - Janiuk, Agnieszka
AU - Jaubert, Jean
AU - Jiménez, Maria
AU - Jolly, Antoine
AU - Jourdan, Thierry
AU - Julien, Sabine
AU - Kedziora, Bartosz
AU - Korb, Andrew
AU - Kreykenbohm, Ingo
AU - König, Ole
AU - Langer, Mathieu
AU - Laudet, Philippe
AU - Laurent, Philippe
AU - Laurenza, Monica
AU - Lesrel, Jean
AU - Ligori, Sebastiano
AU - Lorenz, Maximilian
AU - Luminari, Alfredo
AU - Maffei, Bruno
AU - Maisonnave, Océane
AU - Marelli, Lorenzo
AU - Massonet, Didier
AU - Maussang, Irwin
AU - Melchor, Alejandro Gonzalo
AU - Le Mer, Isabelle
AU - Millan, Francisco Javier San
AU - Millerioux, Jean Pierre
AU - Mineo, Teresa
AU - Minervini, Gabriele
AU - Molin, Alexeï
AU - Monestes, David
AU - Montinaro, Nicola
AU - Mot, Baptiste
AU - Murat, David
AU - Nagayoshi, Kenichiro
AU - Nazé, Yaël
AU - Noguès, Loïc
AU - Pailot, Damien
AU - Panessa, Francesca
AU - Parodi, Luigi
AU - Petit, Pascal
AU - Piconcelli, Enrico
AU - Pinto, Ciro
AU - Plaza, Jose Miguel Encinas
AU - Plaza, Borja
AU - Poyatos, David
AU - Prouvé, Thomas
AU - Ptak, Andy
AU - Puccetti, Simonetta
AU - Puccio, Elena
AU - Ramon, Pascale
AU - Reina, Manuel
AU - Rioland, Guillaume
AU - Rodriguez, Louis
AU - Roig, Anton
AU - Rollet, Bertrand
AU - Roncarelli, Mauro
AU - Roudil, Gilles
AU - Rudnicki, Tomasz
AU - Sanisidro, Julien
AU - Sciortino, Luisa
AU - Silva, Vitor
AU - Sordet, Michael
AU - Soto-Aguilar, Javier
AU - Spizzi, Pierre
AU - Surace, Christian
AU - Sánchez, Miguel Fernández
AU - Taralli, Emanuele
AU - Terrasa, Guilhem
AU - Terrier, Régis
AU - Todaro, Michela
AU - Ubertini, Pietro
AU - Uslenghi, Michela
AU - de Vaate, Jan Geralt Bij
AU - Vaccaro, Davide
AU - Varisco, Salvatore
AU - Varnière, Peggy
AU - Vibert, Laurent
AU - Vidriales, María
AU - Villa, Fabrizio
AU - Vodopivec, Boris Martin
AU - Volpe, Angela
AU - de Vries, Cor
AU - Wakeham, Nicholas
AU - Walmsley, Gavin
AU - Wise, Michael
AU - de Wit, Martin
AU - Woźniak, Grzegorz
N1 - Funding Information: This paper is based on the documentation assembled by the CNES project team and the Consortium partners for the X-IFU System Requirement Review, which has started at the end of June, albeit with reduced objectives (the review will be completed in September 2022). DB wishes to thank the CNES Project and Support teams for continuing the preparation of the SRR data pack, during the disruptive and unfortunate events that happened to Athena, which could have led to the termination of X-IFU. There is no doubt that their efforts will be rewarded in the upcoming design-to-cost exercise. DB would also like to express his gratitude to the CNES Management (Philippe Baptiste, President), Lionel Suchet (Chief Operating Officer), Caroline Laurent (Director of orbital systems and applications), Philippe Lier (Deputy-Director of orbital systems and applications), the French ESA SPC delegation (Olivier La Marle and Juliette Lambin) for their unfailing support to X-IFU. This support was instrumental in preserving an X-IFU on the new Athena mission and will remain precious in the upcoming phase of the reformulation of the mission. Special thanks to all the SPC delegations which supported the objective of keeping a flagship X-ray observatory in the ESA Science Program. DB is also thankful to Gilles Bergametti (President of the CNES Comité des Programmes Scientifiques, CPS), Athena Coustenis (President of the CNES Comité d’évaluation de la recherche et de l’exploration spatiale, CERES) and Pierre-Olivier Petrucci (President of the Programme National des Hautes Energies) for their support and for providing the feedback from the French scientific community at large. The French contribution to X-IFU is funded by CNES, CNRS and CEA. This work has been also supported by ASI (Italian Space Agency) through the Contract 2019-27-HH.0, and by the ESA (European Space Agency) Core Technology Program (CTP) Contract No. 4000114932/15/NL/BW and the AREMBES - ESA CTP No.4000116655/16/NL/BW. This publication is part of grant RTI2018-096686-B-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”. This publication is part of grant RTI2018-096686-B-C21 and PID2020-115325GB-C31 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. We wish to thank an anonymous referee for a very careful reading of our manuscript, and for providing helpful comments. Funding Information: This paper is based on the documentation assembled by the CNES project team and the Consortium partners for the X-IFU System Requirement Review, which has started at the end of June, albeit with reduced objectives (the review will be completed in September 2022). DB wishes to thank the CNES Project and Support teams for continuing the preparation of the SRR data pack, during the disruptive and unfortunate events that happened to Athena, which could have led to the termination of X-IFU. There is no doubt that their efforts will be rewarded in the upcoming design-to-cost exercise. DB would also like to express his gratitude to the CNES Management (Philippe Baptiste, President), Lionel Suchet (Chief Operating Officer), Caroline Laurent (Director of orbital systems and applications), Philippe Lier (Deputy-Director of orbital systems and applications), the French ESA SPC delegation (Olivier La Marle and Juliette Lambin) for their unfailing support to X-IFU. This support was instrumental in preserving an X-IFU on the new Athena mission and will remain precious in the upcoming phase of the reformulation of the mission. Special thanks to all the SPC delegations which supported the objective of keeping a flagship X-ray observatory in the ESA Science Program. DB is also thankful to Gilles Bergametti (President of the CNES Comité des Programmes Scientifiques, CPS), Athena Coustenis (President of the CNES Comité d’évaluation de la recherche et de l’exploration spatiale, CERES) and Pierre-Olivier Petrucci (President of the Programme National des Hautes Energies) for their support and for providing the feedback from the French scientific community at large. The French contribution to X-IFU is funded by CNES, CNRS and CEA. This work has been also supported by ASI (Italian Space Agency) through the Contract 2019-27-HH.0, and by the ESA (European Space Agency) Core Technology Program (CTP) Contract No. 4000114932/15/NL/BW and the AREMBES - ESA CTP No.4000116655/16/NL/BW. This publication is part of grant RTI2018-096686-B-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”. This publication is part of grant RTI2018-096686-B-C21 and PID2020-115325GB-C31 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. Funding Information: The PI and the PM interact with various bodies within the Consortium and with the ESA study team (see Fig. ). This organisation was formally endorsed by ESA in December 2018 through the instrument consortia consolidation process. The X-IFU PI is supported by the X-IFU Science Advisory Team (XSAT), acting as a forum to address all scientific matters related to the development of the X-IFU. The X-IFU PI relies on an X-IFU Calibration Team, chaired by the X-IFU Instrument scientist, to carry out all activities related to the calibration of the instrument, both on-ground and in-flight. The X-IFU Instrument Science Center is the joint responsibility of the X-IFU PM and PI, and its development is delegated to an X-ISC system lead and an X-IFU project scientist. The X-IFU PM prime responsibility are the engineering activities of the X-IFU and the delivery of the instrument and its X-ISC to ESA on behalf of the X-IFU Consortium. The X-IFU PM is the interface with ESA and the industrial primes on aspects related to the interfaces between X-IFU and the Athena satellite. The X-IFU PM is supported by a team of project managers providing a forum for discussing project related issues (e.g. planning). The X-IFU PM is also supported by CNES/Consortium Working Groups. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.
PY - 2023/4
Y1 - 2023/4
N2 - The Athena X-ray Integral Unit (X-IFU) is the high resolution X-ray spectrometer studied since 2015 for flying in the mid-30s on the Athena space X-ray Observatory. Athena is a versatile observatory designed to address the Hot and Energetic Universe science theme, as selected in November 2013 by the Survey Science Committee. Based on a large format array of Transition Edge Sensors (TES), X-IFU aims to provide spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy, with a spectral resolution of 2.5 eV (up to 7 keV) over a hexagonal field of view of 5 arc minutes (equivalent diameter). The X-IFU entered its System Requirement Review (SRR) in June 2022, at about the same time when ESA called for an overall X-IFU redesign (including the X-IFU cryostat and the cooling chain), due to an unanticipated cost overrun of Athena. In this paper, after illustrating the breakthrough capabilities of the X-IFU, we describe the instrument as presented at its SRR (i.e. in the course of its preliminary definition phase, so-called B1), browsing through all the subsystems and associated requirements. We then show the instrument budgets, with a particular emphasis on the anticipated budgets of some of its key performance parameters, such as the instrument efficiency, spectral resolution, energy scale knowledge, count rate capability, non X-ray background and target of opportunity efficiency. Finally, we briefly discuss the ongoing key technology demonstration activities, the calibration and the activities foreseen in the X-IFU Instrument Science Center, touch on communication and outreach activities, the consortium organisation and the life cycle assessment of X-IFU aiming at minimising the environmental footprint, associated with the development of the instrument. Thanks to the studies conducted so far on X-IFU, it is expected that along the design-to-cost exercise requested by ESA, the X-IFU will maintain flagship capabilities in spatially resolved high resolution X-ray spectroscopy, enabling most of the original X-IFU related scientific objectives of the Athena mission to be retained. The X-IFU will be provided by an international consortium led by France, The Netherlands and Italy, with ESA member state contributions from Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, with additional contributions from the United States and Japan.
AB - The Athena X-ray Integral Unit (X-IFU) is the high resolution X-ray spectrometer studied since 2015 for flying in the mid-30s on the Athena space X-ray Observatory. Athena is a versatile observatory designed to address the Hot and Energetic Universe science theme, as selected in November 2013 by the Survey Science Committee. Based on a large format array of Transition Edge Sensors (TES), X-IFU aims to provide spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy, with a spectral resolution of 2.5 eV (up to 7 keV) over a hexagonal field of view of 5 arc minutes (equivalent diameter). The X-IFU entered its System Requirement Review (SRR) in June 2022, at about the same time when ESA called for an overall X-IFU redesign (including the X-IFU cryostat and the cooling chain), due to an unanticipated cost overrun of Athena. In this paper, after illustrating the breakthrough capabilities of the X-IFU, we describe the instrument as presented at its SRR (i.e. in the course of its preliminary definition phase, so-called B1), browsing through all the subsystems and associated requirements. We then show the instrument budgets, with a particular emphasis on the anticipated budgets of some of its key performance parameters, such as the instrument efficiency, spectral resolution, energy scale knowledge, count rate capability, non X-ray background and target of opportunity efficiency. Finally, we briefly discuss the ongoing key technology demonstration activities, the calibration and the activities foreseen in the X-IFU Instrument Science Center, touch on communication and outreach activities, the consortium organisation and the life cycle assessment of X-IFU aiming at minimising the environmental footprint, associated with the development of the instrument. Thanks to the studies conducted so far on X-IFU, it is expected that along the design-to-cost exercise requested by ESA, the X-IFU will maintain flagship capabilities in spatially resolved high resolution X-ray spectroscopy, enabling most of the original X-IFU related scientific objectives of the Athena mission to be retained. The X-IFU will be provided by an international consortium led by France, The Netherlands and Italy, with ESA member state contributions from Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, with additional contributions from the United States and Japan.
KW - Athena: the advanced telescope for high energy astrophysics
KW - Observatory
KW - Space instrumentation
KW - X-IFU: The X-ray Integral Field Unit
KW - X-rays
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151226323&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10686-022-09880-7
DO - 10.1007/s10686-022-09880-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85151226323
SN - 0922-6435
VL - 55
SP - 373
EP - 426
JO - Experimental Astronomy
JF - Experimental Astronomy
IS - 2
ER -