Radiation Damage Effects on X-Ray Detectors for Future Planetary and Astronomy Missions

This thesis describes both theoretical and experimental work conducted to further develop X-ray instrumentation for future planetary and astronomy space missions. Such instruments are used to probe, ever deeper, the high energy Universe; from black holes and active galactic nuclei, to supernovae, galaxy formation and clusters. X-rays can also be used to establish the elemental composition of planetary surfaces from orbit or in situ, furthering our understanding of planetary and moon formation in our solar system. Chapter 1 introduces X-ray instrumentation and uses the International X-ray Observatory as a case study to explore the many new developments in X-ray instrumentation, both in optics and detectors. Chapter 2 further explores the field of X-ray optics, particularly the novel Microchannel Plate Optics used on the BepiColombo Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer, MIXS. The characterisation of an MCP optic is presented, demonstrating the best angular resolution measurement of a flat square-pore square-packed Microchannel Plate Optic to date;