NSSDCA ID: 2016-055A-05
Mission Name: OSIRIS-RExThe REgolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) is a Student Collaboration Experiment developed and run by four groups at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. It is designed study the surface elemental composition and elemental distribution of the asteroid Bennu using solar induced X-ray fluorescence. It will be used to create an X-ray spectroscopy map of the asteroid at a scale of 50 - 200 meters.
REXIS has a mass of 4.4 kg and uses 10.8 W. It has a detector plane consisting of a 2 x 2 array of back-lit CCDs with an active area of 24.159 square cm. The CCD active area is an array of 1024 x 1024 pixels with a pitch of 24 microns. The energy range is 0.3 to 10.0 keV, with an energy resolution of 130 eV at 5.9 keV. A 220 nm layer of aluminum is deposited directly on the CCDs to mitigate the background signal. 55Fe sources are used for calibration. There is also an X-ray monitor on the sun-facing side of the spacecraft with an active area of 5 x 5 mm, an energy range of 1 - 20 keV, and an energy resolution of 125 eV at 5.9 keV. It uses a 0.5 mil Be window for optical blocking.
Mass: 4.4 kg
Power (avg): 10.8 W
Questions and comments about this experiment can be directed to: Dr. David R. Williams
Name | Role | Original Affiliation | |
---|---|---|---|
Prof. Jonathan E. Grindlay | Team Leader | Harvard College Observatory | |
Dr. David Miller | Team Leader | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | millerd@mit.edu |