Aug. 22 (UPI) — Scientists are eagerly awaiting an upcoming space launch that could deepen our understanding of spacetime distortion.
The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), a collaboration between NASA, the Japanese Space Agency, and the European Space Agency, is scheduled for launch on Saturday.
The XRISM will be launched from Japan’s Tangashima Space Center using an H-2A rocket. If the mission goes as planned, XRISM is expected to operate for approximately three years.
Equipped with a highly advanced microcalorimeter spectrometer called Resolve, XRISM will have the capability to accurately measure the temperature of objects in deep space, including temperature differences.
To ensure optimal performance, Resolve must be cooled to an extremely low temperature.
“Resolve detects subtle temperature changes that occur when an X-ray interacts with its 6-by-6-pixel detector. To accurately measure this minute increase and determine the energy of the X-ray, the detector needs to be cooled to a temperature around minus 460 Fahrenheit (approximately minus 270 Celsius), just a fraction above absolute zero,” stated NASA in a press release earlier this month.
Researchers anticipate that the data collected by XRISM will provide valuable insights into the structures found in deep space, such as massive galaxy clusters and particle jets produced by black holes.
The XRISM mission will also allocate observation time to the European Space Agency.
During their allocated 8% of observation time, the European Space Agency aims to cross-reference Resolve’s observations with X-ray readings obtained by their own XMM-Newton spacecraft, which has been collecting data for over two decades.
Scientists hope that the XRISM mission will help unravel the enigmatic nature of gravity, which Albert Einstein theorized as the result of spacetime distortion caused by massive objects.
By studying the speed and composition of matter and particle jets near black holes, scientists aspire to gain a better understanding of potential spacetime warping.
In a recent video released by NASA, Sophia Roberts, a video producer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, elucidated the process of spectroscopy.
“Having delved into spectroscopy, I have come to appreciate the valuable context it provides scientists in understanding the narratives behind those images,” Roberts explained.
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