Ground calibration of the BlackCAT CubeSat x-ray Coded Aperture Telescope

Joseph M. Colosimo; Abraham D. Falcone; Mitchell Wages; Timothy Emeigh; Lukas R. Stone; David M. Palmer; Zachary Catlin; Kadri M. Nizam; Md. Arman Hossen; Michael Betts; William A. Bevidas Jr.; Brynn Bortree; Jacob C. Buffington; David N. Burrows; Thomas Forstmeier; Derek B. Fox; Killian M. Gremling; Collin Reichard; Ana C. Scigliani; Anthony J. Tavana; Ian Thornton; Daniel Washington; Michael E. Zugger

doi:10.1117/12.3017588

21 August 2024 Ground calibration of the BlackCAT CubeSat x-ray Coded Aperture Telescope

Joseph M. Colosimo, Abraham D. Falcone, Mitchell Wages, Timothy Emeigh, Lukas R. Stone, David M. Palmer, Zachary Catlin, Kadri M. Nizam, Md. Arman Hossen, Michael Betts, William A. Bevidas Jr., Brynn Bortree, Jacob C. Buffington, David N. Burrows, Thomas Forstmeier, Derek B. Fox, Killian M. Gremling, Collin Reichard, Ana C. Scigliani, Anthony J. Tavana, Ian Thornton, Daniel Washington, Michael E. Zugger

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 13093, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 1309376 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3017588
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Conference Poster

Abstract

BlackCAT is a NASA-funded 6U CubeSat mission planned to be launch-ready in 2025. BlackCAT will use its wide field-of-view and arcminute-scale localization to identify gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), gravitational-wave counterparts, and other high-energy transient events. The mission will send rapid alerts after detection of a transient event, enabling prompt follow-up from other ground- and space-based observatories. The science instrument is a coded aperture telescope, using a focal plane with four Speedster-EXD550 event-driven X-ray hybrid CMOS detectors (HCDs) and a gold-plated nickel coded mask to localize source positions. We describe methods for the calibration of the detectors and the assembled coded-aperture instrument. We also briefly discuss plans for in-flight commissioning and calibration.

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

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Joseph M. Colosimo, Abraham D. Falcone, Mitchell Wages, Timothy Emeigh, Lukas R. Stone, David M. Palmer, Zachary Catlin, Kadri M. Nizam, Md. Arman Hossen, Michael Betts, William A. Bevidas Jr., Brynn Bortree, Jacob C. Buffington, David N. Burrows, Thomas Forstmeier, Derek B. Fox, Killian M. Gremling, Collin Reichard, Ana C. Scigliani, Anthony J. Tavana, Ian Thornton, Daniel Washington, and Michael E. Zugger "Ground calibration of the BlackCAT CubeSat x-ray Coded Aperture Telescope", Proc. SPIE 13093, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 1309376 (21 August 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3017588

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