The X-ray Astronomy Satellite ASTRO-H

Abstract

ASTRO-H is the 6th Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite having been developed under a vast collaboration of the international X-ray astronomy community. The Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) onboard ASTRO-H can realize fine X-ray spectroscopy with energy resolution of more than 20 times as good as the standard X-ray detector CCD. Since the SXS is a non-dispersive detector, it works not only for point sources but also for diffuse X-ray sources. The advent of the SXS is believed to open up a new era in the field of X-ray spectroscopy. The other main instrument, the hard X-ray imager, will have a larger effective area than NuSTAR, although spatial resolution is somewhat limited. The integration and all the tests of ASTRO-H spacecraft has already been finished. The spacecraft is ready to be shipped to the launch site: Tanegashima Space Center. After the launch site operation to be started in early December 2015, ASTRO-H will be launched by the end of 2016 March.