Alignment of the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS) telescope mirror and spectrometer optics assemblies

The Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS) is a NASA sounding rocket instrument designed and built to observe X-ray emissions from the Sun’s atmosphere in the 6–24A (0.5–2.0keV) range while achieving high spectral and spatial resolution along a 8-arcminute long slit. We describe the alignment process and discuss the results achieved for assembling the Telescope Mirror Assembly (TMA) and the Spectrometer Optics Assembly (SOA) prior to final integration into the MaGIXS instrument. The MaGIXS mirrors are full shell, electroformed nickel replicated on highly polished mandrels at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The TMA carries a single shell, Wolter Type-1 mirror pair (primary and secondary) formed on a common mandrel. The SOA includes a matched pair of identical parabolic mirrors and a planar varied-line spacing (VLS) diffraction grating. We performed the subassembly alignment and mounting at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) using metrology and precision positioning systems constructed around the Centroid Detector Assembly (CDA), originally built for the alignment of the Chandra mirror shells. The MaGIXS instrument launch has been postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.