Twitter : @athray

About Me

My name is Subramania Athiray Panchapakesan (I go by Athiray). I’m working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Space Science, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR), University of Alabama, and a Research Scientist at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL.

My latest CV can be found here

Research Interests

One of my research interests is to study energy releases and plasma heating in solar active regions using high energy emissions in EUV and X-rays. I am also actively involved in the development and calibration of next generation X-ray instrumentation involving X-ray mirrors and semiconductor detectors for high resolution imaging spectroscopy.

Contact Details

Department of Space Science,

Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research,

320 Sparkman Dr NW,

Huntsville, AL.

Email : athiray.panchap@uah.edu

List of Publications

  • ADS
  • Google Scholar
  • ORCID

    • Projects and Missions

    The second flight of the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS) - Launched in 2024

    • I'm the Deputy Instrument scientist for MaGIXS-2, responsible over overall instrument testing, calibraiton and science planning for observation
    • I work with the science team to analyze flight data to verify pointing and calibration, generate flight instrument response function, and perform inversion of MaGIXS-2 data

    Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS) - Launched in 2021

    • I'm the X-ray calibration lead for MaGIXS, responsible for end-to-end calibration, data analysis, and generation of calibration products
    • I analyze flight data to verify pointing and calibration, generate flight instrument response function, and develop inversion method(s) to unfold MaGIXSdata
    • I develop forward models using SDO/AIA and Hinode/XRT data to calculate and verify radiometric predictions

    Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) - Launched in 2018

    • I was the detector team lead for FOXSI-3, responsible for detector calibration using sealed radioactive sources and synchrotron facility
    • I investigated the differential emission measure (DEM) of solar microflares using coordinated FOXSI-2 flight observations with SDO/AIA, and Hinode/XRT

    Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) - Launched in 2008

    • I led the development and validation of X-ray fluorescence inversion algorithm 'x2abundance'
    • I played a major role in the spectral analysis of C1XS data and determination of lunar surface elemental abundances
        • I’m the X-ray calibration lead for the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS), sounding rocket experiment and study the solar X-ray emission to understand the heating time scales in the solar corona. Previously, I was a postdoctoral associate (2016 - 2019) at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, worked on calibration of hard X-ray detectors on the third rocket flight of Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI). I studied the differential emission measure of small microflares by combining data from SDO/AIA, Hinode/XRT and FOXSI-2. In May of 2015, I completed my PhD in the Indian Space Resarch organisation, Indian Institute of Astrophysics under the supervison of Dr. Sreekumar. My dissertation, Study of lunar surface chemistry using Swept Charge Devices, can be found here.

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