The videos on this page show completed components of the flight mirror assemblies for the X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM, pronounced “crism”), which is expected to launch from Japan in 2023.
An X-ray Mirror Assembly (XMA) includes both a primary and a secondary mirror. Each is built using four quadrants that contain 203 nested aluminum mirror segments, for a total of 1,624 segments in each XMA. The mirrors will deflect incoming light into the satellite’s two instruments: an X-ray calorimeter spectrometer called Resolve, and an X-ray imager called Xtend.
XRISM is a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA, along with ESA participation, to investigate the X-ray universe using high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center developed the XMAs for both instruments, as well as the Resolve detector and many of its subsystems.