Suzaku (satellite)

Suzaku (formerly ASTRO-EII) was an X-ray astronomy satellite developed jointly by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science at JAXA to probe high energy X-ray sources, such as supernova explosions, black holes and galactic clusters. It was launched on 10 July 2005 aboard the M-V-6 rocket. After its successful launch, the satellite was renamed Suzaku after the mythical Vermilion bird of the South.^[4]

Just weeks after launch, on 29 July 2005 the first of a series of cooling system malfunctions occurred. These ultimately caused the entire reservoir of liquid helium to boil off into space by 8 August 2005. This effectively shut down the X-ray Spectrometer (XRS), which was the spacecraft's primary instrument. The two other instruments, the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) and the Hard X-ray Detector (HXD), were unaffected by the malfunction. As a result, another XRS was integrated into the Hitomi X-ray satellite, launched in 2016.

On 26 August 2015, JAXA announced that communications with Suzaku had been intermittent since 1 June, and that the resumption of scientific operations would be difficult to accomplish given the spacecraft's condition.^[5] Mission operators decided to complete the mission imminently, as Suzaku had exceeded its design lifespan by 8 years at this point. The mission came to an end on 2 September 2015, when JAXA commanded the radio transmitters on Suzaku to switch themselves off.^[3][6]

Spacecraft instruments

Suzaku is carrying high spectroscopic resolution, very wide energy band instruments for detecting signals ranging from soft X-rays up to gamma-rays (0.3–600 keV). High resolution spectroscopy and wide-band are essential factors to physically investigate high energy astronomical phenomena, such as black holes and supernovae. One such feature, the broad iron K line, may be key to more direct imaging of black holes.

• X-ray Telescope (XRT)
• X-ray Spectrometer (XRS)
• X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS)
• Hard X-ray Detector (HXD)
  • Uses Gadolinium Silicate crystal (GSO), Gd₂SiO₅(Ce)^[7]
  • Uses Bismuth Germanate crystal (BGO), Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂^[7]

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  X-ray Telescope (XRT)
• 
  Hard X-ray Detector (HXD)
• 
  X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS)
• 
  X-ray Spectrometer (XRS)

ASTRO-E

Suzaku was a replacement for ASTRO-E, which was lost in a launch failure. The M-V-4 carrier rocket launched on 10 February 2000 at 01:30:00 UTC but experienced a failure 42 seconds later, failing to achieve orbit and crashing with its payload into the ocean.^[8]

Results

Suzaku discovered "fossil" light from a supernova remnant.^[9]

References

Further reading

• Special Issue: First Results from Suzaku. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. Vol. 59, No. SP1. January 30, 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2010.

External links

• X-ray Astronomy Satellite "Suzaku" (ASTRO-EII) (JAXA)
• JAXA/ISAS Suzaku (ASTRO-EII) mission overview
• JAXA/ISAS Suzaku Information for Researchers
• JAXA report presentation of failure analysis of XRS (in Japanese)
• NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day: Launch of the Red Bird (12 July 2005)
• NASA ASTRO-EII mission description
• NASA/GSFC Suzaku Learning Center
• NASA/GSFC XRS-2 project page