The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe via a suite of four instruments, covering a very wide energy range, from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. These instruments include a high-resolution, high-throughput spectrometer sensitive over 0.3-2 keV with high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV, enabled by a micro-calorimeter array located in the focal plane of thin-foil X-ray optics; hard X-ray imaging spectrometers covering 5-80 keV, located in the focal plane of multilayer-coated, focusing hard X-ray mirrors; a wide-field imaging spectrometer sensitive over 0.4-12 keV, with an X-ray CCD camera in the focal plane of a soft X-ray telescope; and a non-focusing Compton-camera type soft gamma-ray detector, sensitive in the 40-600 keV band. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution, will enable the pursuit of a wide variety of important science themes.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

Hitomi (ASTRO-H) X-ray Astronomy Satellite

The Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission is the sixth Japanese x-ray astronomy satellite developed by a large international collaboration, including Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe. The mission aimed to provide the highest energy resolution ever achieved at E  >  2  keV, using a microcalorimeter instrument, and to cover a wide energy range spanning four decades in energy from soft x-rays to gamma rays. After a successful launch on February 17, 2016, the spacecraft lost its function on March 26, 2016, but the commissioning phase for about a month provided valuable information on the onboard instruments and the spacecraft system, including astrophysical results obtained from first light observations. The paper describes the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission, its capabilities, the initial operation, and the instruments/spacecraft performances confirmed during the commissioning operations for about a month

Effect of cellulose nanofibers on the fracture toughness mode II of glass fiber/epoxy composite laminates

Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) were used to improve the fracture toughness of glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites (GFRPs). Different CNF suspensions were prepared and sprayed onto the surface of woven glass fiber laminates. The vacuum resin transfer molding (VaRTM) process was used to manufacture the GFRP composites. End notch flexure tests were conducted to evaluate the effect of CNFs on the critical energy release rate in mode II fracture toughness GIIC. The results revealed that 0.05 wt% was the optimum concentration. The interlaminar fracture toughness GIIC was improved by 28% with the addition of 0.05 wt% of CNFs to GF/epoxy composites. Whereas 0.1 wt% of CNFs resulted in decreasing GIIC due to the uncomplete impregnation of GF with epoxy resin caused by the thicker CNF layer at the interfacial laminates. The toughening mechanisms were investigated using a field-emission electron microscope. Large epoxy deformations and shear hackles were predominant for improving the interlaminar fracture toughness of GFRP composites

Anatomical Distribution of Diarrhetic Shellfish Toxins (DSTs) in the Japanese Scallop Patinopecten yessoensis and Individual Variability in Scallops and Mytilus edulis Mussels: Statistical Considerations

Diarrhetic shellfish toxins (DSTs) are a group of phycotoxins that include okadaic acid (OA)/dinophysistoxin (DTX) analogues. At present, detailed data on the distribution of DST is insufficient, and studies of the appropriate sample sizes are lacking. This study investigated the DST frequency distribution in scallops and mussels by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) and a resampling analysis of existing data was carried out. The DST population-interval and the necessary sample size were also estimated. DSTs are localized in the scallop digestive-gland, and the DST concentrations in scallops were water-depth-dependent. DST concentrations in scallops and mussels showed normal distributions, but mussels tended to contain more DSTs than scallops. In the statistical resampling analysis of the acquired data on scallops and mussels, especially that using the bootstrap method, sample size was difficult to estimate when the DST variation was large. Although the DST population-interval could be statistically estimated from the sample standard deviation of three samples, the sample size corresponded to the risk management level, and the use of 13 or more samples was preferable. The statistical methods used here to analyze individual contents and estimate population content-intervals could be applied in various situations and for shellfish toxins other than DSTs

Performance of ASTRO-H Hard X-Ray Telescope (HXT)

The Japanese X-ray Astronomy Satellite, Hitomi (ASTRO-H) carries hard X-ray imaging system, covering the energy band from 5 keV to 80 keV. The hard X-ray imaging system consists of two hard X-ray telescopes (HXT) and two hard X-ray imagers (HXI). The HXT employs tightly-nested, conically-approximated thin foil Wolter-I optics. The mirror surfaces of HXT were coated with PtC depth-graded multilayers. We carried out ground calibrations of HXTs at the synchrotron radiation facility SPring-8 BL20B2 in Japan, and found that total effective area of two HXTs was about 350 sq cm at 30 keV, and the half power diameter of HXT was about 1.9. After the launch of Hitomi, Hitomi observed several targets during the initial functional verification of the onboard instruments. The Hitomi software and calibration team (SCT) provided the Hitomis data of G21.5-0.9, a pulsar wind nebula, to the hardware team for the purpose of the instrument calibration. Through the analysis of the in-flight data, we have confirmed that the X-ray performance of HXTs in orbit was consistent with that estimated by the ground calibrations

On-Ground Calibration of the Hitomi Hard X-Ray Telescopes

We present x-ray characteristics of the Hard X-ray Telescopes (HXTs) on board the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) satellite. Measurements were conducted at the SPring-8 BL20B2 beamline and the ISAS/JAXA 27-m beamline

The ASTRO-H mission

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe by performing high-resolution, high-throughput spectroscopy with moderate angular resolution. ASTRO-H covers very wide energy range from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. ASTRO-H allows a combination of wide band X-ray spectroscopy (5-80 keV) provided by multilayer coating, focusing hard X-ray mirrors and hard X-ray imaging detectors, and high energy-resolution soft X-ray spectroscopy (0.3-12 keV) provided by thin-foil X-ray optics and a micro-calorimeter array. The mission will also carry an X-ray CCD camera as a focal plane detector for a soft X-ray telescope (0.4-12 keV) and a non-focusing soft gamma-ray detector (40-600 keV) . The micro-calorimeter system is developed by an international collaboration led by ISAS/JAXA and NASA. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution of ΔE ~7 eV provided by the micro-calorimeter will enable a wide variety of important science themes to be pursued