RAAD: a CubeSat-based soft gamma-ray detector for the study of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and other short timescale phenomena

Mallory S. E. Roberts; Francesco Arneodo; Adriano di Giovanni; Ahlam Al Qasim; Aisha Al Mannaei; Noora Almarri; Lolowa Alkindi; Fatema AlKhouri; Philip Panicker; Sohmyung Ha; Laura Manenti; Gianmarco Bruno; Rodrigo Torres; Valerio Conicella; Prashanth Marpu; Thu Vu; Heyam Al Blooshi

doi:10.1117/12.2533447

10 October 2019 RAAD: a CubeSat-based soft gamma-ray detector for the study of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and other short timescale phenomena

Mallory S. E. Roberts, Francesco Arneodo, Adriano di Giovanni, Ahlam Al Qasim, Aisha Al Mannaei, Noora Almarri, Lolowa Alkindi, Fatema AlKhouri, Philip Panicker, Sohmyung Ha, Laura Manenti, Gianmarco Bruno, Rodrigo Torres, Valerio Conicella, Prashanth Marpu, Thu Vu, Heyam Al Blooshi

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11151, Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites XXIII; 111510Y (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2533447
Event: SPIE Remote Sensing, 2019, Strasbourg, France

Abstract

We present RAAD (Rapid Acquisition Atmospheric Detector), a detector designed to study Terrestrial Gamma ray Flashes (TGFs) and other fast hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray phenomena. TGFs are bursts of radiation from thunderstorms which occur on sub-microsecond timescales. Most detectors used to study TGFs have been limited by deadtime and timing precision, and sometimes poor calibration at lower energies. We will present calibration and space qualification tests of a detector aimed at the 20 keV - 2500 keV range with ~ 100 ns time response and good spectral resolution. This uses 2 X 2 arrays of two different scintillation crystals, Cerium Bromide and Lanthanum BromoChloride, both of which have very fast decay times. We couple them to both standard photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) along with custom electronics designed to provide very fast sampling with very low power consumption per channel. Each crystal array fits into < 1U of a cubesat, and provides ~20 cm²of effective area to photons < 200 keV and ~10 cm² at 600 keV. The RAAD concept is the winner of the Mini-satellite competition held by the UAE Space Agency in 2018, largely developed with undergraduates at NYUAD, and is expected to be fully developed and launched by 2020. Two detectors, one with PMTs and one with SiPMs will be deployed on a 3U CubeSat, providing head to head performance tests for both crystal types and light sensor types. This will serve as a proof of concept showing how such detectors could be deployed in a network of CubeSats to study TGFs and other phenomena.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Mallory S. E. Roberts, Francesco Arneodo, Adriano di Giovanni, Ahlam Al Qasim, Aisha Al Mannaei, Noora Almarri, Lolowa Alkindi, Fatema AlKhouri, Philip Panicker, Sohmyung Ha, Laura Manenti, Gianmarco Bruno, Rodrigo Torres, Valerio Conicella, Prashanth Marpu, Thu Vu, and Heyam Al Blooshi "RAAD: a CubeSat-based soft gamma-ray detector for the study of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and other short timescale phenomena", Proc. SPIE 11151, Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites XXIII, 111510Y (10 October 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2533447

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available