The Microchannel X-ray Telescope on board the SVOM mission: in-flight scientific performance

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Götz, D., Crepaldi, S., Doumayrou, E., Feldman, C., Ferrando, P., Fort, A., Goto, H., Jaubert, J., Duigou, J. -M. Le, Maggi, P., Meuris, A., Moita, M., Mercier, K., Robinet, F., Plasse, C., Sauvageon, A., van Hove, C.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Götz, D.
Crepaldi, S.
Doumayrou, E.
Feldman, C.
Ferrando, P.
Fort, A.
Goto, H.
Jaubert, J.
Duigou, J. -M. Le
Maggi, P.
Meuris, A.
Moita, M.
Mercier, K.
Robinet, F.
Plasse, C.
Sauvageon, A.
van Hove, C.
author_facet Götz, D.
Crepaldi, S.
Doumayrou, E.
Feldman, C.
Ferrando, P.
Fort, A.
Goto, H.
Jaubert, J.
Duigou, J. -M. Le
Maggi, P.
Meuris, A.
Moita, M.
Mercier, K.
Robinet, F.
Plasse, C.
Sauvageon, A.
van Hove, C.
contents The Microchannel X-ray Telescope (MXT) is a compact and lightweight focusing X-ray telescope, which is part of the space payload of the SVOM mission. The main goal of the MXT instrument is to precisely localize and physically characterize the early phases of the X-ray afterglows detected by the SVOM ECLAIRs coded mask telescope after a satellite slew. The MXT is composed by a "Lobster-Eye" type optics, with a 58$\times$58 arcmin$^{2}$ field of view, based on micro-pores of 40 $μ$m side. This innovative type of optics is coupled to an X-ray camera, which implements at its focal plane a low-noise pnCCD. The MXT system is completed by an onboard calculator, able to command the whole telescope and to analyze in real time the MXT data stream and hence to localize the sources within the MXT field of view. In this paper, we present the MXT design and in-flight performance, as measured during the SVOM Commissioning and early science operation phase. In particular, we will focus on the optical and spectral performances, the in flight localization capabilities, and how these compare with the pre-flight ground measurements.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_24246
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Microchannel X-ray Telescope on board the SVOM mission: in-flight scientific performance
Götz, D.
Crepaldi, S.
Doumayrou, E.
Feldman, C.
Ferrando, P.
Fort, A.
Goto, H.
Jaubert, J.
Duigou, J. -M. Le
Maggi, P.
Meuris, A.
Moita, M.
Mercier, K.
Robinet, F.
Plasse, C.
Sauvageon, A.
van Hove, C.
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
The Microchannel X-ray Telescope (MXT) is a compact and lightweight focusing X-ray telescope, which is part of the space payload of the SVOM mission. The main goal of the MXT instrument is to precisely localize and physically characterize the early phases of the X-ray afterglows detected by the SVOM ECLAIRs coded mask telescope after a satellite slew. The MXT is composed by a "Lobster-Eye" type optics, with a 58$\times$58 arcmin$^{2}$ field of view, based on micro-pores of 40 $μ$m side. This innovative type of optics is coupled to an X-ray camera, which implements at its focal plane a low-noise pnCCD. The MXT system is completed by an onboard calculator, able to command the whole telescope and to analyze in real time the MXT data stream and hence to localize the sources within the MXT field of view. In this paper, we present the MXT design and in-flight performance, as measured during the SVOM Commissioning and early science operation phase. In particular, we will focus on the optical and spectral performances, the in flight localization capabilities, and how these compare with the pre-flight ground measurements.
title The Microchannel X-ray Telescope on board the SVOM mission: in-flight scientific performance
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.24246