Insight -HXMT on-orbit thermal control status and thermal deformation impact analysis

Purpose The Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope is China’s first X-ray astronomy satellite launched on June 15, 2017, dubbed Insight -HXMT. Active and passive thermal control measures are employed to keep devices at suitable temperatures. In this paper, we analyzed the on-orbit thermal monitoring data of the first 5 years and investigated the effect of thermal deformation on the point spread function (PSF) of the telescopes. Methods We examined the data of the on-orbit temperatures measured using 157 thermistors placed on the collimators, detectors and their support structures and compared the results with the thermal control requirements. The thermal deformation was evaluated by the relative orientation of the two star sensors installed on the main support structure. Its effect was estimated with evolution of the PSF obtained with calibration scanning observations of the Crab nebula. Conclusion The on-orbit temperatures met the thermal control requirements thus far, and the effect of thermal deformation on the PSF was negligible after the on-orbit pointing calibration.