2026/08/03 by Herman L Marshall, Sarah N T Heine, Alan Garner +16
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph.IM
25 pages, 7 figures; to be submitted for proceedings of SPIE conference 14146
arxiv created 2026/08/03 · arxiv updated 2026/08/05
The Globe Orbiting Soft X-ray Polarimeter (GOSoX) is a spectropolarimeter for the soft X-ray band. GOSoX is based on the Rocket Experiment Demonstration of a Soft X-ray Polarimeter (REDSoX), a NASA-funded sounding rocket payload. Like REDSoX, GOSoX consists of Wolter I X-ray optics from NASA/MSFC, critical-angle transmission (CAT) gratings made at MIT, and multilayer (ML) coated mirrors from LBNL that polarize the X-rays. Colleagues at U. Tübingen will adapt commercially available sCMOS sensors for the focal plane. The grating dispersion is matched to the lateral grading of ML mirrors set at 45°. GOSoX can measure polarization across the entire 0.2-0.4 keV band with a spectral resolution E/dE ∼100. Minimum detectable polarizations (MDPs) of 3-10% are expected for over a dozen targets in a one-year mission. The mission was selected by NASA for launch in 2030.