TY - JOUR
T1 - Space qualifying RAAD CubeSat for the study of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and other short timescale phenomenon
AU - Al Kindi, Lolowa
AU - Roberts, Mallory S.E.
AU - di Giovanni, Adriano
AU - Arneodo, Francesco
AU - Al Qasim, Ahlam
AU - Al Mannaei, Aisha
AU - Al Marri, Noora
AU - Al Khouri, Fatema
AU - Ha, Sohmyung
AU - Panicker, Philip
AU - Manenti, Laura
AU - Bruno, Gianmarco
AU - Torres, Rodrigo
AU - Kalos, Sebastian
AU - Conicella, Valerio
AU - Marpu, Prashanth
AU - Vu, Thu
AU - Al Blooshi, Heyam
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2020 by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - The RAAD (Rapid Acquisition Atmospheric Detector) instrument is a soft Gamma-Ray detector optimized for studying Terrestrial GammaRay Flashes (TGFs). We are testing two configurations which use two different types of scintillating crystals (Cerium Bromide and Lanthanum BromoChloride) coupled to S13361-6050AE-04 Hamamatsu Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) and R11265-200 Photomultiplier Tubes (PMTs). Each detector consists of a 2 x 2 array of crystals and photosensors, each fitting into < 1U of a CubeSat, and provides ~20 cm2 of effective area to photons with energy less than 200 keV and ~10 cm2 at 600 keV. The detector's unique combination of scintillating crystals and photosensors, along with a custom-designed readout electronics, overcomes the deadtime and timing precision limitations as well as the low resolution at lower energies (< 50 keV) typical of previous missions that had tried to detect TGFs. The custom-designed payload electronics provide the required spectroscopic and timing capabilities within the low power budget constraints (< 4 W on average) of the mission. It is sensitive in the 20 keV - 3000 keV energy range, has a 200 ns time resolution, and good energy resolution (~ 5% @ 511 keV). We present the results of thermal and mechanical space qualification tests on the payload, energy and timing calibrations, and pre-flight particle and signal simulations characterizing the expected response. We also show how such detectors could be deployed in a network of CubeSats to study TGFs and for multi-messenger astronomy. RAAD is the chosen payload for the Light-1 3U CubeSat, the first joint mission between the UAE Space Agency and the Bahraini Space Agency, which is expected to be launched in May 2021 and deployed from the International Space Station.
AB - The RAAD (Rapid Acquisition Atmospheric Detector) instrument is a soft Gamma-Ray detector optimized for studying Terrestrial GammaRay Flashes (TGFs). We are testing two configurations which use two different types of scintillating crystals (Cerium Bromide and Lanthanum BromoChloride) coupled to S13361-6050AE-04 Hamamatsu Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) and R11265-200 Photomultiplier Tubes (PMTs). Each detector consists of a 2 x 2 array of crystals and photosensors, each fitting into < 1U of a CubeSat, and provides ~20 cm2 of effective area to photons with energy less than 200 keV and ~10 cm2 at 600 keV. The detector's unique combination of scintillating crystals and photosensors, along with a custom-designed readout electronics, overcomes the deadtime and timing precision limitations as well as the low resolution at lower energies (< 50 keV) typical of previous missions that had tried to detect TGFs. The custom-designed payload electronics provide the required spectroscopic and timing capabilities within the low power budget constraints (< 4 W on average) of the mission. It is sensitive in the 20 keV - 3000 keV energy range, has a 200 ns time resolution, and good energy resolution (~ 5% @ 511 keV). We present the results of thermal and mechanical space qualification tests on the payload, energy and timing calibrations, and pre-flight particle and signal simulations characterizing the expected response. We also show how such detectors could be deployed in a network of CubeSats to study TGFs and for multi-messenger astronomy. RAAD is the chosen payload for the Light-1 3U CubeSat, the first joint mission between the UAE Space Agency and the Bahraini Space Agency, which is expected to be launched in May 2021 and deployed from the International Space Station.
KW - CubeSat
KW - Lightning storms
KW - Particle Detectors
KW - Scintillation Crystals
KW - Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes
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M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:85100938621
SN - 0074-1795
VL - 2020-October
JO - Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC
JF - Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC
T2 - 71st International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2020
Y2 - 12 October 2020 through 14 October 2020
ER -