X-RAY ROCKET PAYLOADS FOR KEY TECHNOLOGIES AND CORE SCIENCE

THE GOAL OF THIS PAYLOAD IS TWO-FOLD. FIRST WE INTEND TO MAKE A SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATION OF THE SOFT X-RAY EMISSION FROM AN UNDERSTUDIED REGION OF THE VELA SUPERNOVA REMNANT. THIS WILL BE THE HIGHEST SPECTRAL RESOLUTION OBSERVATION OF THIS REGION TO DATE AND PROVIDE CLUES TO THE PHYSICAL STATE OF THIS SHOCK HEATED GAS. THIS IS A SOUTHERN TARGET WHICH NECESSITATES LAUNCHING FROM THE FURTHEST SOUTH ROCKET RANGE THAT OPERATES ON A CONSISTENT BASIS KWAJALEIN MISSILE RANGE PART OF THE REAGAN TEST SITE. PAYLOADS LAUNCHED FROM THIS SITE LAND IN THE OCEAN AND WE REQUIRE RECOVERY. THEREFORE THE SECOND GOAL FOR THIS PAYLOAD WILL BE TO TEST WATER RECOVERY TECHNOLOGIES CURRENTLY BEING DEVELOPED BY NASA FOR SOUNDING ROCKETS. THIS WILL BE THE FIRST WATER RECOVERED ASTROPHYSICS RESEARCH ROCKET. THE WRX-R PAYLOAD IS A REFLIGHT OF A PREVIOUS PAYLOAD THE OFF-PLANE GRATING ROCKET FOR EXTENDED SOURCE SPECTROSCOPY (OGRESS). THE OGRESS PAYLOAD SUFFERED FROM HIGH NOISE DETECTORS. WE PLAN ON REPLACING THOSE DETECTORS WITH HYBRID-CMOS DETECTORS (HCDS) TO REDUCE NOISE WHILE FLIGHT QUALIFYING HCDS A CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY FOR FUTURE NASA X-RAY MISSIONS. CO- IS ON THE TEAM DAVE BURROWS AND ABE FALCONE ARE ACTIVELY DEVELOPING THESE DETECTORS THROUGH NASA FUNDED STUDIES. NEARLY ALL OF THE EFFORT IN THE COMING YEAR WILL BE INTEGRATING THESE DETECTORS INTO THE CURRENTLY EXISTING PAYLOAD. TYLER ANDERSON AN ELECTRICAL ENGINEER TANMOY CHATTOPADHYAY A POSTDOC JAMES TUTT A RESEARCH ASSOCIATE AND TED SCHULTZ THE PROJECT ENGINEER HAVE BEEN TASKED WITH THESE EFFORTS.