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 ComPair balloon instrument is a prototype of the All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory (AMEGO) mission concept. AMEGO aims to bridge the spectral gap in sensitivity that currently exists from ∼100 keV to ∼100 MeV by being sensitive to both Compton and pair-production events. This is made possible through the use of four subsystems working together to reconstruct events: a double-sided silicon strip detector (DSSD) Tracker, a virtual Frisch grid cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) Low Energy Calorimeter, a ceasium iodide (CsI) High Energy Calorimeter, and an anti-coincidence detector (ACD) to reject charged particle backgrounds. Composed of 10 layers of DSSDs, ComPair’s Tracker is designed to measure the position of photons that Compton scatter in the silicon, as well as reconstruct the tracks of electrons and positrons from pair-production as they propagate through the detector. By using these positions, as well as the absorbed energies in the Tracker and 2 Calorimeters, the energy and direction of the incident photon can be determined. This proceeding will present the development, testing, and calibration of the ComPair DSSD Tracker and early results from its balloon flight in August 2023.
The ComPair balloon instrument is a prototype gamma-ray telescope that aims to further develop technology for observing the gamma-ray sky in the MeV regime. ComPair combines four detector subsystems to enable parallel Compton scattering and pair-production detection, critical for observing in this energy range. This includes a 10 layer double-sided silicon strip detector tracker, a virtual Frisch grid low energy CZT calorimeter, a high energy CsI calorimeter, and a plastic scintillator anti-coincidence detector. The inaugural balloon flight successfully launched from the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility site in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, in late August 2023, lasting approximately 6.5 hours in duration. In this proceeding, we discuss the development of the ComPair balloon payload, the performance during flight, and early results.
The ComPair gamma-ray telescope is a technology demonstrator for a future gamma-ray telescope called the All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory (AMEGO). The instrument is composed of four subsystems, a double-sided silicon strip detector, a virtual Frisch grid CdZnTe calorimeter, a CsI:Tl based calorimeter, and an anti-coincidence detector (ACD). The CsI calorimeter's goal is to measure the position and energy deposited from high-energy events. To demonstrate the technological readiness, the calorimeter has flown onboard a NASA scientific balloon as part of the GRAPE-ComPair mission and accumulated around 3 hours of float time at an altitude of 40 km. During the flight, the CsI calorimeter observed background radiation, Regener-Pfotzer Maximum, and several gamma-ray activation lines originating from aluminum.
There is a growing interest in the science uniquely enabled by observations in the MeV range, particularly in light of multi-messenger astrophysics. The Compton Pair (ComPair) telescope, a prototype of the AMEGO Probe-class concept, consists of four subsystems that together detect and characterize gamma rays in the MeV regime. A double-sided strip silicon Tracker gives a precise measure of the first Compton scatter interaction and tracks pair-conversion products. A novel cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector with excellent position and energy resolution beneath the Tracker detects the Compton-scattered photons. A thick cesium iodide (CsI) calorimeter contains the high-energy Compton and pair events. The instrument is surrounded by a plastic anti-coincidence (ACD) detector to veto the cosmic-ray background. In this work, we will give an overview of the science motivation and a description of the prototype development and performance.
IceCube-Gen2 is a planned extension to the existing IceCube Neutrino Observatory currently operating at the South Pole. IceCube-Gen2 will provide an order of magnitude increase in the detection rate of cosmic neutrinos by deploying ∼10,000 novel sensors deep in the glacial ice. The IceCube-Gen2 sensor comprises up to eighteen photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) read out with custom electronics. The PMTs are mounted inside a borosilicate glass pressure vessel and optically coupled via “gel pads” to increase the probability of photon capture. The use of multiple PMTs provides coverage in every direction, aiding in event localization and reconstruction. The tight constraints on the in-ice borehole size, coupled with power constraints for instrumentation at the South Pole, presents several design challenges. Prototypes of the IceCube-Gen2 optical module are currently under development, and several will be deployed as part of the IceCube Upgrade. In this contribution, we will provide an overview of IceCube-Gen2 with a specific focus on the optical module currently under development.
This conference presentation was prepared for the conference on Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, part of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022.
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.
AMEGO is a combined Compton and pair-production telescope designed to survey the sky from ∼ 200 keV to > 10 GeV. The prototype, known as ComPair, will undergo beam tests in 2021 and a short-duration balloon flight the following year. The ComPair tracker is based on ten layers of 10 cm × 10 cm double-sided silicon detectors read out with a custom front-end based on the IDEAS VATA460 ASIC and a Zynq SoC ARM+FPGA running petalinux. In this contribution, we will discuss detector and ASIC characterization, calibration systems, and the overall design of the ComPair silicon tracker.
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