We present the NSX front-end application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), which has been developed to read charge signals from the High Energy Modular Array and Wide Field Monitor X-ray detectors for the Spectroscopic Time-Resolving Observatory for Broadband Energy X-rays mission. The ASIC reads out signals from up to 64 anodes of linear silicon drift detectors (SDDs). When unloaded, the ASIC channel has a charge resolution, expressed in equivalent noise charge (ENC) of ∼2.8 e−. Once connected to the SDD anode, we anticipate, for the 80-keV energy range, an ENC of ∼10.7 e− at a leakage current of 2 pA, which corresponds to a full width half maximum of ∼145 eV at 6 keV once the Fano-limited statistics from charge generation in Si is included. The acquisition is event-triggered, and for events exceeding the threshold, the ASIC measures the peak amplitude and stores it in an analog memory for subsequent readout. The ASIC can also force the measurement of the sub-threshold channels neighboring the triggered channel, including the ones that belong to neighbor chips using bi-directional differential inter-chip communication. Alternatively, the ASIC can measure the amplitudes of all channels at the time of the first detected peak. Additional features include a high-resolution option, a channel power down and skip function, a low-noise pulse generator, a temperature sensor, and the monitoring of the channel analog output and trimmed threshold. The power consumption of the individual channel is ∼590 μW, and when including all shared circuits, it averages to ∼670 μW/channel.
KEYWORDS: Space operations, Sensors, Equipment, Gamma radiation, Signal detection, Silicon photomultipliers, Data archive systems, Observatories, Data processing, Design
BurstCube is a 6U (10 x 20 x 30 cm) CubeSat designed to detect gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and enable multimessenger observations, scheduled to launch in early 2024. BurstCube science is informed by the coincident detection of GRB 170817A and gravitational wave (GW) 170817, which confirmed compact binary mergers as progenitors for GRBs. Future coincident detections will also provide important context to the GW measurements - namely constraining the neutron star equation of state and testing fundamental physics, while also probing the origin of GRB prompt emission. Full sky coverage in the gamma-ray regime is needed to increase the likelihood of such measurements. Once in orbit, BurstCube will expand sky coverage while rapidly providing public alerts and localization information to the community using the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) and General Coordinates Network (GCN). This work will describe the current status of the mission, as well as an outline of post-launch operations, performance, and science goals.
The All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory eXplorer (AMEGO-X) is designed to identify and characterize gamma rays from extreme explosions and accelerators. The main science themes include supermassive black holes and their connections to neutrinos and cosmic rays; binary neutron star mergers and the relativistic jets they produce; cosmic ray particle acceleration sources including galactic supernovae; continuous monitoring of other astrophysical events and sources over the full sky in this important energy range. AMEGO-X will probe the medium energy gamma-ray band using a single instrument with sensitivity up to an order of magnitude greater than previous telescopes in the energy range 100 keV to 1 GeV that can be only realized in space. During its 3-year baseline mission, AMEGO-X will observe nearly the entire sky every two orbits, building up a sensitive all-sky map of gamma-ray sources and emissions. AMEGO-X was submitted in the recent 2021 NASA MIDEX announcement of opportunity.
S. Agayeva, V. Aivazyan, S. Alishov, M. Almualla, C. Andrade, Sarah Antier, J. M. Bai, A. Baransky, S. Basa, P. Bendjoya, Z. Benkhaldoun, S. Beradze, D. Berezin, U. Bhardwaj, M. Blazek, O. Burkhonov, E. Burns, S. Caudill, N. Christensen, F. Colas, A. Coleiro, W. Corradi, M. Coughlin, T. Culino, D. Darson, D. Datashvili, G. de Wasseige, T. Dietrich, F. Dolon, D. Dornic, J. Dubouil, J.-G. Ducoin, P.-A. Duverne, A. Esamdin, A. Fouad, F. Guo, V. Godunova, P. Gokuldass, N. Guessoum, E. Gurbanov, R. Hainich, E. Hasanov, P. Hello, T. Hussenot-Desenonges, R. Inasaridze, A. Iskandar, E.E.O. Ishida, N. Ismailov, T. Jegou du Laz, D.A. Kann, G. Kapanadze, S. Karpov, R.W. Kiendrebeogo, A. Klotz, N. Kochiashvili, A. Kaeouach, J.-P. Kneib, W. Kou, K. Kruiswijk, S. Lombardo, M. Lamoureux, N. Leroy, A. Le Van Su, J. Mao, M. Masek, T. Midavaine, A. Moeller, D. Morris, R. Natsvlishvili, F. Navarete, S. Nissanke, K. Noonan, K. Noysena, N.B. Orange, J. Peloton, M. Pilloix, T. Pradier, M. Prouza, G. Raaijmakers, Y. Rajabov, J.-P. Rivet, Y. Romanyuk, L. Rousselot, F. Ruenger, V. Rupchandani, T. Sadibekova, N. Sasaki, A. Simon, K. Smith, O. Sokoliuk, X. Song, A. Takey, Y. Tillayev, I. Tosta e Melo, D. Turpin, A. de Ugarte Postigo, M. Vardosanidze, X.F. Wang, D. Vernet, Z. Vidadi, J. Zhu, Y. Zhu
GRANDMA is a world-wide collaboration with the primary scientific goal of studying gravitational-wave sources, discovering their electromagnetic counterparts and characterizing their emission. GRANDMA involves astronomers, astrophysicists, gravitational-wave physicists, and theorists. GRANDMA is now a truly global network of telescopes, with (so far) 30 telescopes in both hemispheres. It incorporates a citizen science programme (Kilonova-Catcher) which constitutes an opportunity to spread the interest in time-domain astronomy. The telescope network is an heterogeneous set of already-existing observing facilities that operate coordinated as a single observatory. Within the network there are wide-field imagers that can observe large areas of the sky to search for optical counterparts, narrow-field instruments that do targeted searches within a predefined list of host-galaxy candidates, and larger telescopes that are devoted to characterization and follow-up of the identified counterparts. Here we present an overview of GRANDMA after the third observing run of the LIGO/VIRGO gravitational-wave observatories in 2019 − 2020 and its ongoing preparation for the forthcoming fourth observational campaign (O4). Additionally, we review the potential of GRANDMA for the discovery and follow-up of other types of astronomical transients.
BurstCube aims to expand sky coverage in order to detect, localize, and rapidly disseminate information about gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). BurstCube is a ’6U’ CubeSat with an instrument comprised of 4 Cesium Iodide (CsI) scintillators coupled to arrays of Silicon photo-multipliers (SiPMs) and will be sensitive to gamma-rays between 50 keV and 1 MeV. BurstCube will assist current observatories, such as Swift and Fermi, in the detection of GRBs as well as provide astronomical context to gravitational wave (GW) events detected by LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA. BurstCube is currently in its development phase with a launch readiness date in early 2022.
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