Prospects of the SmallSat Solar Activity/Axion X-ray Imager (SSAXI)

Detection of soft X-rays from the Sun provides direct information on coronal plasma at temperatures in excess of ~1 MK. The SmallSat Solar Activity/Axion X-ray Imager (SSAXI) will combine Miniature lightweight Wolter-I focusing X-ray optics (MiXO) and monolithic CMOS X-ray sensors in a compact package to enable the capability to create solar spectral images from 0.6 – 6 keV. This spectral bandpass is key for observing diverse solar phenomena to constrain various components of coronal heating in the Quiet Sun (QS), Active Region (ARs), and microflares (GOES A and sub A level events). Furthermore, the spectral resolution (resolving power ~10 – 40) will allow determination of Fe, Mg, Ca, Si, S, O, and Ar abundances. Any excess in the Quiet Sun soft X-ray flux between 2 – 6 keV that cannot be described by traditional solar models, will be candidates for X-rays converted from axions in the solar magnetic field along the line of sight to the solar core. Thus, effectively imaging the solar core. Axions are a promising dark matter candidate as well as a solution to the strong charge-parity (CP) problem in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The science prospects of such an instrument on a future SmallSat platform will be discussed in this talk as well as the proposed mission timeline.