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SOXS Mission and Recent Results by
Rajmal Jain
27 April 2004 The "Solar X-ray Spectrometer (SOXS)" mission onboard GSAT-2 Indian spacecraft was launched successfully by GSLV-D2 rocket on 08 May 2003 to study the energy release and particle acceleration in solar flares. We briefly present the scientific objectives and instrumentation of the SOXS mission, which is the first space-borne solar astronomy experiment of India. The SOXS is composed of two independent payloads viz. SOXS Low Energy Detector (SLD) payload, and SOXS High Energy Detector (SHD) payload. We restrict our presentation to SLD payload that designed, developed and fabricated by Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in collaboration with various institutes of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The SLD employs solid state detectors viz. Si PIN and CZT to cover the energy range 4-50 keV. Si provides sub-keV energy resolution while CZT between 1.4 and 2.2 keV in their respective dynamic energy range. Both detectors allow the intensity and mean energy of the Fe-line complex at approximately 6.7 keV to be measured as a function of time of the flare. Another weaker line complex at ~8 keV made up of emission from He-like nickel and more highly excited Fe XXV is also evident in almost all flares. The SLD has observed more than 140 flares in last 10 months of its successful operation in geo-stationary orbit. We present the preliminary results of a few flares. We present detailed study of a few typical solar flares that observed in January 2004. We demonstrate that the SLD is found a potential instrument to study the micro/ nano flares. In order to use full potentiality of SLD payload multi-wavelength observations, space-borne as well as ground-based, in simultaneous to SOXS are required for which participation from international solar physics community is solicited.
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