Leicester University deliver cutting-edge telescope for SMILE mission

The Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) on the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) is a wide-field X-ray telescope that uses micropore optics to spectrally map the location, shape, and motion of Earth's magnetospheric boundaries.

The development and build of the SXI telescope has been led by Leicester University in collaboration with the Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) and the Open University within the UK and several institutions across Europe.

UK space engineers provided key subsystems in the form of the main telescope assembly, X-ray optics module, advanced X-ray detector system and the associated readout electronics.

The telescope is the first instrument to be delivered using facilities at Space Park Leicester, as the Assembly, Integration and Test (AIT) team integrated space-flight subsystems to complete the SXI telescope within a purpose-built cleanroom.

The researchers built several models of the instrument and subjected them to environmental tests characteristic of the harsh environment of space. The final flight model has now been built and delivered to Airbus Defence and Space, Madrid, for integration onto the European Space Agency (ESA) platform that constitutes the main instrument hub on the SMILE spacecraft.