We are pleased to report that as of October 31, 2002, RHESSI has achieved its Minimum Science Requirements:
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Perform hard X-ray (greater than 20 keV) imaging spectroscopy of solar flares with better than 4 arcsecond spatial resolution and better
than 3 keV energy resolution.
-
Perform high resolution (better than 3 keV FWHM at l MeV) spectroscopy of gamma-ray lines in solar flares.
-
Obtain observations of at least a hundred hard X-ray flares and ten gamma-ray (greater than 300 keV) flares.
RHESSI has performed imaging spectroscopy of hard X-ray flares from
3 keV upward, with 2.3 arcsec resolution, and ~1 keV energy resolution.
It has obtained high resolution spectra of gamma-ray lines in the 23
July 2002 flare. On October 31, 2002, it detected its tenth gamma-ray
(>300 keV) flare. It has also detected over one thousand hard X-ray
(>25 keV) flares.
All systems are operating nominally, and we are looking forward to
eventually achieving the Baseline Science Requirements.
Best regards,
Bob Lin, Brian Dennis, and the RHESSI team
