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XQC

X-ray Quantum Calorimeter (XQC)

Nike-Black Brant two stage rocket launches XQC at White Sands

The X-ray Quantum Calorimeter sounding rocket experiment (XQC) is an instrument flown on a series of rocket flights to provide high resolution spectra of soft X-ray diffuse background measurements and to test the instrumentation to be flown in future X-ray missions.

The instrument was flown on six different rocket flights between Dec 1995 and March 2013, however only the last four flights gave good spectra. The flights reached an altitude of 220 km.

Mission Characteristics

Lifetime
1995–2013
Special Features
  • Sounding rocket flights
  • Testing and calibration of new class of hyperspectral X-ray detector (quantum calorimeter)

Payload

XQC Rocket Flights
Date Target (l,b) Flight No
4 Dec 1995 27.132
3 Jun 1996 27.141
28 Mar 1999 90.0, 60.0 27.041
1 May 2008 90.0, 60.0 36.223
6 Nov 2011165.0, -5.0 36.264
11 Mar 2013165.0, -5.0 36.294

X-ray Quantum Calorimeter

Energy Range
0.1– 1.1 keV
Effective Area
0.36 cm2 (early)
1.44 cm2 (late)
Field of View
∼1 sr (non-imaging)
Rocket flights in the 1990s used 2×18 pixel array X-ray quantum calorimeter with each individual pixel 0.5×2.0 mm cooled to 60 mK. Later flights used a 6×6 pixel array with 2.0×2.0 mm pixels cooled to 50 mK.

Science Highlights

High resolution spectra of the diffuse X-ray background

Archive

The HEASARC hosts spectra and response files from four rocket flights.

XQC at HEASARC More about XQC Publications

All Missions Time Ordered List Energy Ordered List