BOLINGBROOK, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On February 17, 2016, an international mission successfully launched the ASTRO-H (also known as Hitomi) X-ray astronomy satellite from Kagoshima, Japan. This collaborative mission includes cutting edge technology developed by NASA and EPIR Technologies, Inc. (EPIR), a member of the Sivananthan Laboratories group of companies.
“We are honored to have worked with NASA and the international team to create the high resolution X-ray calorimeter,” said Christoph Grein, Chief Scientific Officer of Sivananthan Laboratories, “and hope for great discoveries on the structure and evolution of the universe.”
EPIR developed breakthrough imaging technology for ASTRO-H’s state-of-the-art Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS), an instrument that measures the energy of soft X-rays to see galaxies, black holes and other astronomical phenomena. The unique process created and used by scientists at EPIR to build the HgTe calorimeter tiles, a key component of the detector in the SXS, enables unprecedented energy resolution. This innovation is a major contribution to the mission, which is designed to significantly increase existing capabilities for space observation.
ASTRO-H is the sixth X-ray satellite, following Suzaku, which operated from 2005 to 2015. It has far greater sensitivity and can observe X-rays more than 10 times fainter than its predecessor.
“Sivananthan Laboratories is extremely proud of EPIR and the outstanding team that worked hard to develop this state-of-the-art technology,” said Raja Krishnamoorthi, President of Sivananthan Laboratories, “We congratulate NASA and the international mission on the successful launch, and we look forward to the new view of our universe that ASTRO-H will share with the world.”
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