Choose timezone
Your profile timezone:
Due to be launched in September 2021 on a Space X Falcon 9, IXPE is the
next NASA SMall EXplorer mission, and the first observatory in more than
40 years to be specifically devoted to X-ray polarimetry. After a
succinct summary of the IXPE science motivations and provisional
observing program, we shall review the design, construction, test and
qualification of the Detector Units, the main INFN contribution to the
mission, with emphasis on the polarization-sensitive Gas Pixel Detectors
(GPDs), that represent the heart of focal plane and, at the same time,
the enabling technology for the observatory.
--