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RHESSI

(Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, HESSI, Explorer 81, SMEX-6)
(2000s small satellite studying solar flares)

RHESSI (for Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager) was a NASA Small Explorer Program (SMEX) satellite to study solar flares. It was launched in 2002 and operated in low Earth orbit until 2018, and re-entered Earth atmosphere in 2023. It consisted of a single-instrument telescope capable of sensing both X-rays and gamma rays, recording them from the solar limb, where flares are most easily distinguished. These are produced by bremsstrahlung in the solar atmosphere's plasma, as well as nuclear spectral lines.


(spacecraft,particles,solar,NASA,solar wind,cosmic rays)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuven_Ramaty_High_Energy_Solar_Spectroscopic_Imager
https://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/rhessi3/
https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/rhessi#spacecraft
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.00741

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