Editing Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (section)

== Instruments ==
[[File:XTE launch.gif|thumb|upright=1.0|right|XTE launch]]
[[File:RXTE preparations.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|right|RXTE preparations in 1995]]

=== All-Sky Monitor (ASM) ===
The All-Sky Monitor (ASM) provided all-sky X-ray coverage, to a sensitivity of a few percent of the [[Crab Nebula]] intensity in one day, in order to provide both flare alarms and long-term intensity records of celestial X-ray sources.<ref name="Experiment1">{{cite web |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=1995-074A-01 |title=Experiment: All-Sky Monitor (ASM) |publisher=NASA |date=28 October 2021 |access-date=28 November 2021}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> The ASM consisted of three wide-angle shadow cameras equipped with proportional counters with a total collecting area of {{cvt|90|cm2}}. The instrumental properties were:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/ASM.html |title=All-Sky Monitor (ASM) |publisher=Heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov |date=2002-02-04 |access-date=2012-02-03}} {{PD-notice}}</ref><ref name="ASM">{{cite web |url=https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/asm_products_guide.html |title=The RXTE All Sky Monitor Data Products |publisher=NASA |date=26 August 1997 |access-date=28 November 2021}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>

* Energy range: 2–12-keV;
* Time resolution: observes 80% of the sky every 90 minutes;
* Spatial resolution: 3' × 15';
* Number of shadow cameras: 3, each with 6° × 90° FoV;
* Collecting area: {{cvt|90|cm2}};
* Detector: [[Xenon]] proportional counter, position-sensitive;
* Sensitivity: 30 [[Crab (unit)|mCrab]].

It was built by the CSR at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]. The [[principal investigator]] was [http://web.mit.edu/physics/people/faculty/bradt_hale.html Dr. Hale Bradt].

=== High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE) ===
The High-Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE) is a scintillator array for the study of temporal and temporal/spectral effects of the hard X-ray (20 to 200 keV) emission from galactic and extragalactic sources.<ref name="Experiment3">{{cite web |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=1995-074A-03 |title=Experiment: High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE) |publisher=NASA |date=28 October 2021 |access-date=28 November 2021}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> The HEXTE consisted of two clusters each containing four [[phoswich detector|phoswich scintillation detectors]]. Each cluster could "rock" (beam switch) along mutually orthogonal directions to provide background measurements 1.5° or 3.0° away from the source every 16 to 128 seconds. In addition, the input was sampled at 8 [[microsecond]]s so as to detect time-varying phenomena. Automatic gain control was provided by using an {{SimpleNuclide|americium|241|link=yes}} radioactive source mounted in each detector's field of view. The HEXTE's basic properties were:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/HEXTE.html |title=High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE) |publisher=NASA |date=1999-09-14 |access-date=2012-02-03}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>

* Energy range: 15–250 keV;
* Energy resolution: 15% at 60 keV;
* Time sampling: 8 microseconds;
* Field of view: 1° [[Full width at half maximum|FWHM]];
* Detectors: 2 clusters of 4 NaI/CsI [[scintillation counter]]s;
* Collecting area: 2 × {{cvt|800|cm2}};
* Sensitivity: 1-Crab = 360 count/second per HEXTE cluster;
* Background: 50 count/second per HEXTE cluster.

The HEXTE was designed and built by the [http://cass.ucsd.edu Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences (CASS)] at the [[University of California, San Diego]]. The HEXTE principal investigator was [https://web.archive.org/web/20081229041202/http://mamacass.ucsd.edu/people/rrothschild.html Dr. Richard E. Rothschild].

=== Proportional Counter Array (PCA) ===
The Proportional Counter Array (PCA) provides approximately {{cvt|6500|cm2}} of X-ray detector area, in the energy range 2 to 60 keV, for the study of temporal/spectral effects in the X-ray emission from galactic and extragalactic sources.<ref name="Experiment2">{{cite web |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=1995-074A-02 |title=Experiment: Proportional Counter Array (PCA) |publisher=NASA |date=28 October 2021 |access-date=28 November 2021}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> The PCA was an array of five proportional counters with a total collecting area of {{cvt|6500|cm2}}. The instrumental properties were:<ref name="HEASARC">{{cite web |url=https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/learning_center/pca.html |title=Proportional Counter Array (PCA) |publisher=NASA |date=2011-12-06 |access-date=2018-10-05}}</ref>

* Energy range: 2–60 keV;
* Energy resolution: <18% at 6 keV;
* Time resolution: 1 μs
* Spatial resolution: collimator with 1° (FWHM);
* Detectors: 5 proportional counters;
* Collecting area: {{cvt|6500|cm2}};
* Layers: 1 [[propane]] veto; 3 [[Xenon]], each split into two; 1 Xenon veto layer;
* Sensitivity: 0.1-mCrab;
* Background: 90-mCrab.

The PCA is being built by the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics (LHEA) at [[Goddard Space Flight Center]]. The principal investigator was [[Jean Swank]].<ref name="HEASARC"/>