The Array of Low Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors (ALEXIS) satellite is Los Alamos’ pathfinding small space mission achieving low cost and rapid development time for its technology demonstration and science goals. The ALEXIS satellite contains the ALEXIS telescope array, which consists of six EUV/ultrasoft X-ray telescopes utilizing normal incidence multilayer mirrors, microchannel plate detectors, and thin UV rejecting filters. Each telescope is tuned to a relatively narrow bandpass centered at either 130, 171, or 186 angstroms. Each telescope has a 33° field-of-view, and a resolution of ~ 0.25°. With each 50 s rotation of the satellite, the telescopes scan most of the anti-solar hemisphere of the sky. The spacecraft is controlled exclusively from a ground station located at Los Alamos.This paper discusses the characteristics and performance of the ALEXIS telescopes and the results from the mission in spite of the damage incurred to the spacecraft at launch.
EUV Astrophysics with ALEXIS: The Wide View