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The filter wheel consists of 6 filter positions. Two open positions, one 55Fe source to aid in early mission spectrometer characterisation and three transmission filters: a neutral density filter, an optical blocking filter and a beryllium filter.
The X-ray intensity, pulse period and pulse separation of the MXS are highly configurable. Furthermore, the switch–on time is synchronized with the space–craft’s internal clock to give accurate start and end times of the pulses.
One of the issues raised during ground testing was the susceptibility of an MXS at high voltage to ambient light. Although measures were taken to mitigate the light leak, the efficacy of those measures must be verified in–orbit. Along with an overview of issues raised during ground testing, this article will discuss the calibration source and the filter performance in–flight and compare with the transmission curves present in the Resolve calibration database.
The MXS count rate model, initiated based on the MXS component-level test results, has been calibrated and updated using measurements in the spacecraft thermal vacuum test with the flight detector and MXS. Using the model, the relation between the calibration line count rate and the magnitude of the undesirable effects is studied. This enabled us to choose a few settings for the continuous use of the MXS optimized for different ranges of target gain tracking intervals. An alternative approach called the intermittent gain tracking method is also developed and implemented. In this method, the use of the MXS is limited to specific phases of periodic changes of the gain drift. The MXS is turned off outside these dedicated phases, and all the MXS-on intervals, not only pulse-on intervals but also pulse-off intervals, are removed from science data analysis. This enables us to reconstruct the drift without having most of the undesirable effects in science data.
In this article, we will report the strategies for the in-orbit gain tracking using the MXS.
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