Orbital is designing, manufacturing, integrating and testing the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism SMEX (GEMS) satellite to study X-ray polarization in space. Under a NASA contract, Orbital will provide the spacecraft bus and conduct mission operations for the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The GEMS mission is being led by the project’s Principal Investigator Dr. Jean Swank.
The GEMS satellite will be the first observatory to systematically measure X-ray polarization which encodes information about the structure of cosmic sources, unlocking a previously hidden astrophysical world. Previous space-based X-ray observatories have been insensitive to polarization, which refers to the direction of the electric field of electromagnetic waves.
Polarization measurements will allow scientists to study scattering, magnetic fields and strong gravitational fields.
The purpose of the GEMS mission is to help scientists answer fundamental questions about the universe, such as:
Where is energy released near black holes?
What is the origin of X-ray emissions from pulsars?
What is the magnetic field structure in high-energy nebulae?
The GEMS satellite is based on Orbital’s proven LEOStar-2™ spacecraft bus design. GEMS will be the eighth satellite to be based on the LEOStar-2 platform.
Performance:
Orbit: 575 km, 28.5° inclination
Launch mass: 293 kg
Solar Arrays: 684 W, single axis articulated array
Stabilization: 3-axis
Mission Life: 10 months
