A Soft X-Ray Imager for the Space Weather Applications

Global measurements are needed to assess the state of the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction and validate the predictions of space weather models. Since all of the solar wind mass, energy, and momentum that powers geomagnetic storms and substorms flows through the dayside magnetosheath and cusps, observations of the locations and nature of the bow shock, magnetopause, and cusp, as well as the characteristics of the magnetosheath are key to this effort. Fortunately, charge exchange between solar wind ions and exospheric neutrals in all of these regions emits soft x-rays. Here we describe our efforts to (1) develop a wide field of view soft x-ray imager capable of imaging the density structures that characterize this region of space and (2) extracting meaningful science from the images so obtained.