Overview to the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT) Satellite

Zhang S., Li T., Lu F., Song L., Xu Y., Liu C., ...More

SCIENCE CHINA-PHYSICS MECHANICS & ASTRONOMY, vol.63, no.4, 2020 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Review
  • Volume: 63 Issue: 4
  • Publication Date: 2020
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/s11433-019-1432-6
  • Journal Name: SCIENCE CHINA-PHYSICS MECHANICS & ASTRONOMY
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Aerospace Database, Communication Abstracts, Compendex, Metadex, zbMATH, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Istanbul University Affiliated: No

Abstract

As China's first X-ray astronomical satellite, the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), which was dubbed as Insight-HXMT after the launch on June 15, 2017, is a wide-band (1-250 keV) slat-collimator-based X-ray astronomy satellite with the capability of all-sky monitoring in 0.2-3 MeV. It was designed to perform pointing, scanning and gamma-ray burst (GRB) observations and, based on the Direct Demodulation Method (DDM), the image of the scanned sky region can be reconstructed. Here we give an overview of the mission and its progresses, including payload, core sciences, ground calibration/facility, ground segment, data archive, software, in-orbit performance, calibration, background model, observations and some preliminary results.