MAXI (ISS Experiment)

The Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) is an X-ray slit camera aboard the International Space Station. The device is part of the Japanese Experiment Module. It was developed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Tsukuba, Japan, designed to continuously monitor X-ray sources and variability as the International Space Station (ISS) orbits Earth.

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.[1]

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 iSEEP bus, an exposure adapter for middle-sized payloads in JEM-EF. Chosen as an ISAS Mission of Opportunity in 2015,[2] iWF-MAXI is currently targeted to begin observation at the ISS by 2019.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ E. Kuulkers, et al. - MAXI J1659-152: The shortest orbital period black-hole transient in outburst (2012)
  2. ↑ "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.
  3. ↑ "iWF-MAXI soft X-ray transient monitor on the ISS" (PDF). JAXA. Retrieved 30 October 2015.

[1]

  1. ↑ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/603.html#images
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