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Prospects for Coordinated Observations with XTE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2016

A. B. Giles ,
K. Jahoda ,
J. H. Swank  and
W. Zhang
A. B. Giles
Affiliation:
Code 666, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. barry@pcasun3.gsfc.nasa.gov Universities Space Research Association
K. Jahoda
Affiliation:
Code 666, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. barry@pcasun3.gsfc.nasa.gov
J. H. Swank
Affiliation:
Code 666, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. barry@pcasun3.gsfc.nasa.gov
W. Zhang
Affiliation:
Code 666, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. barry@pcasun3.gsfc.nasa.gov Universities Space Research Association
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Abstract

The X-ray Timing Explorer (XTE) is a NASA satellite designed to perform high-time-resolution studies of known X-ray sources. The two main experiments are a large-area proportional counter array (PCA) from the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and a high-energy X-ray timing experiment (HEXTE) from the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). The PCA data is processed by an electronic data system (EDS) built by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that performs many parallel processing analysis functions for on-board evaluation and data compression. MIT also provide an all-sky monitor (ASM) experiment so that XTE can be slewed rapidly to new transient sources. The spacecraft provides a mean science telemetry rate for the PCA of ~20 kilobits per second (kbps), with bursts to 256 kbps for durations of 30 minutes. Photons are tagged to 1 μs and absolute timing should be better than 100 μs. XTE is due for launch in late August 1995 and the first NASA Research Announcement (NRA) is due out in January 1995. This paper summarises XTE’s performance and then discusses the interactive and flexible operations of the satellite and some of the science it can do. These features should make XTE a productive spacecraft for coordinated observation programs.

Keywords

X-raysgeneral — instrumentationdetectors (XTE)
Type
Instruments, Techniques and Basic Measurements
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , August 1995 , pp. 219 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1995

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