Biography

Dr. Athiray Panchapakesan   completed his Ph.D. in Physics from the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) working on the calibration and design of X-ray spectrometers for the Indian Moon
missions Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2. He received his Ph.D in 2015 from the University of
Calicut, Kerala in India. He did Postdoc (2016-2019) at the University of Minnesota, working as the
Detector Calibration team lead for the third FOXSI sounding rocket mission (funded by NASA),
successfully flown in 2018. He was awarded the NASA Post-doctoral Program Fellowship in 2019 and
joined as Calibration Scientist for the first MaGIXS sounding rocket mission (funded by NASA),
successfully flown in 2021. His current research focuses on plasma heating in solar coronal structures
and flares via multi-wavelength high energy (EUV, X-ray) observations. His expertise involves advanced
X-ray instrumentation with mirrors and detectors, slitless imaging spectroscopy, and solar physics. He is
the Deputy instrument scientist for MaGIXS-2 rocket mission, Project Scientist for the CubIXSS cube
satellite mission. He plays an active role in several upcoming space missions.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

• Ph. D., Physics, Indian Space Research Organisation / Indian Institute of Astrophysics, University of Calicut, Kerala, India. – 2015

Research Funding

• The Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer : (NASA Heliophysics Low Cost Access to Space, $264K (2022-2023))
• The Cube satellite Imaging X-ray Solar Spectrometer : (NASA Heliophysics Flight Opportunities for Research and Technology, $210K (2022-2024))

Recent Publications

• The First Flight of the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS) , ApJ, 2023, 945,
  105
  The Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS), Journal of Astronomical
  Instrumentation, 2022, 11, 2
  Calibration of the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-Ray Spectrometer Experiment. II. Flight
  Instrument Calibration, ApJ, 2021,922, 65
  FOXSI-2 Solar Microflares I: Multi-instrument Differential Emission Measure Analysis and
  Thermal Energies, ApJ, 2020, 891, 78
  Solar Active Region Heating Diagnostics from High-temperature Emission Using the MaGIXS,
  ApJ, 2019, 884,24