The Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE): Pre-Launch

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2112.01269
• Publication Date: 2021-01-01
• Authors: Martin C. Weisskopf; Paolo Soffitta; Luca Baldini; Brian D. Ramsey; Stephen L. O'Dell; Roger W. Romani; Giorgio Matt; William D. Deininger; Wayne H. Baumgartner; Ronaldo Bellazzini; Enrico Costa; Jeffery J. Kolodz...; Luca Latronico; Herman L. Marshall; Fabio Muleri; Stephen D. Bongiorno; Allyn Tennant; Niccolo Bucciantini; Michal Dovciak; Frederic Marin; Alan Marscher; Juri Poutanen; Pat Slane; Roberto Turolla; William Kalinowski; Alessandro Di Marco; Sergio Fabiani; Massimo Minuti; Fabio La Monaca; Michele Pinchera; John Rankin; Carmelo Sgro'; Alessio Trois; Fei Xie; Cheryl Alexander; D. Zachery Allen; Fabrizio Amici; Jason Andersen; Angelo Antonelli; Spencer Antoniak; Primo Attina'; Mattia Barbanera; Matteo Bachetti; Randy M. Baggett; Jeff Bladt; Alessandro Brez; Raffaella Bonino; Christopher Boree; Fabio Borotto; Shawn Breeding; Daniele Brienza; H. Kyle Bygott; Ciro Caporale; Claudia Cardelli; Rita Carpentiero; Simone Castellano; Marco Castronuovo; Luca Cavalli; Elisabetta Cavazzuti; Marco Ceccanti; Mauro Centrone; Saverio Citraro; Fabio D' Amico; Elisa D'Alba; Laura Di Gesu; Ettore Del Monte; Kurtis L. Dietz; Niccolo' Di Lalla; Giuseppe Di Persio; David Dolan; Immacolata Donnar...; Yuri Evangelista; Kevin Ferrant; Riccardo Ferrazzoli; MacKenzie Ferrie; Joseph Footdale; Brent Forsyth; Michelle Foster; Benjamin Garelick; Shuichi Gunji; Eli Gurnee; Michael Head; Grant Hibbard; Samantha Johnson; Erik Kelly; Kiranmayee Kilaru; Carlo Lefevre; Shelley Le Roy; Pasqualino Loffredo; Paolo Lorenzi; Leonardo Lucchesi; Tyler Maddox; Guido Magazzu; Simone Maldera; Alberto Manfreda; Elio Mangraviti; Marco Marengo; Alessandra Marroc...; Francesco Massaro; David Mauger; Jeffrey McCracken; Michael McEachen; Rondal Mize; Paolo Mereu; Scott Mitchell; Ikuyuki Mitsuishi; Alfredo Morbidini; Federico Mosti; Hikmat Nasimi; Barbara Negri; Michela Negro; Toan Nguyen; Isaac Nitschke; Alessio Nuti; Mitch Onizuka; Chiara Oppedisano; Leonardo Orsini; Darren Osborne; Richard Pacheco; Alessandro Paggi; Will Painter; Steven D. Pavelitz; Christina Pentz; Raffaele Piazzolla; Matteo Perri; Melissa Pesce-Rol...; Colin Peterson; Maura Pilia; Alessandro Profeti; Simonetta Puccetti; Jaganathan Rangan...; Ajay Ratheesh; Lee Reedy; Noah Root; Alda Rubini; Stephanie Ruswick; Javier Sanchez; Paolo Sarra; Francesco Santoli; Emanuele Scalise; Andrea Sciortino; Christopher Schro...; Tim Seek; Kalie Sosdian; Gloria Spandre; Chet O. Speegle; Toru Tamagawa; Marcello Tardiola; Antonino Tobia; Nicholas E. Thomas; Robert Valerie; Marco Vimercati; Amy L. Walden; Bruce Weddendorf; Jeffrey Wedmore; David Welch; Davide Zanetti; Francesco Zanetti
• Keywords: [SDU] Sciences of the Universe [physics]; gas pixel detectors; grazing-incidence optics; 0103 physical sciences; FOS: Physical sciences; x-ray polarimetry; Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)

Scheduled to launch in late 2021, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a NASA Small Explorer Mission in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The mission will open a new window of investigation - imaging X-ray polarimetry. The observatory features 3 identical telescopes each consisting of a mirror module assembly with a polarization-sensitive imaging X-ray detector at the focus. A coilable boom, deployed on orbit, provides the necessary 4-m focal length. The observatory utilizes a 3-axis-stabilized spacecraft which provides services such as power, attitude determination and control, commanding, and telemetry to the ground. During its 2-year baseline mission, IXPE will conduct precise polarimetry for samples of multiple categories of X-ray sources, with follow-on observations of selected targets.