X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM)

The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), which was formerly known as XARM, is a JAXA/NASA collaborative mission, with ESA participation. The objective of the mission is to investigate celestial X-ray objects in the Universe with high-throughput imaging and high-resolution spectroscopy. XRISM is expected to launch in the Japanese fiscal year 2022 (TBR) on a JAXA H-IIA rocket.

The XRISM payload consists of two instruments:

• Resolve, a soft X-ray spectrometer, which combines a lightweight X-ray Mirror Assembly (XMA) paired with an X-ray calorimeter spectrometer, and provides non-dispersive 5-7 eV energy resolution in the 0.3-12 keV bandpass with a field of view of about 3 arcmin.
• Xtend, a soft X-ray imager, is an array of four CCD detectors that extend the field of the observatory to 38 arcmin on a side over the energy range 0.4-13 keV, using an identical lightweight X-ray Mirror Assembly.

Their characteristics are similar to the SXS and SXI, respectively, flown on Hitomi. XRISM is designed to resume and recover most of the the science capability lost with the Hitomi mishap, focusing only on the soft X-ray bands. (Hitomi's high energy instruments, HXI and SGD, have no counterparts in XRISM.)

NASA/GSFC develops the Resolve detector system and many of its subsystems together with the X-ray Mirror Assemblies. NASA/GSFC is also responsible for the Science Data Center, which is developing the analysis software for all instruments, the data processing pipeline, as well as support of Guest Observers and the XRISM Guest Observer (GO) Program.

This site is intended primarily for researchers who are interested in XRISM data. Members of the general public, students, and teachers are invited to visit the Students/Teachers/Public section and follow the links.