The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) is a Wolter Type I grazing incidence X-ray telescope to be deployed on the GOES-M spacecraft. The SXI instrument (103 kb GIF image) is designed to obtain a continuous sequence of coronal x-ray images at a 1-minute cadence with a 512X512 intensified CCD. Broadband filters will be employed to obtain images at several wavelength bands between about 6 and 60 Å. These images will be used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Environment Center (NOAA/SEC) and the broader community to monitor solar activity for its effects on the Earth's upper atmosphere and near space environment. Dr. John Davis of the MSFC Solar Physics Branch is Project Scientist for SXI.

GOES-M was launched on July 23, 2001 at 3:23 a.m. EDT atop an Atlas 2A rocket. Approximately one hour after launch, the spacecraft deployed its electricity-generating, solar array. To date, GOES-M systems appear to be healthy.

Although not yet operational, SXI test images may be obtained from the National Geophysical Data Center.

Web Links

NOAA/SXI - NOAA SXI web-page

Author: David H. Hathaway/Mitzi Adams, david.hathaway@msfc.nasa.gov, (256) 961-7610
Mail Code SD50, NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812

Responsible Official: John M. Davis, john.m.davis@msfc.nasa.gov, (256) 961-7600
Mail Code SD50, NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812

Curator

Last revised 2001 Sep 12 - M. Adams