Dr. Derek B. Fox Profile

Dr. Derek B. Fox

at Pennsylvania State Univ

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Publications (7)

Proceedings Article | 21 August 2024 Poster + Paper

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

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

Proceedings Volume 13093, 1309376 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3017588

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Equipment, Calibration, X-rays, X-ray telescopes, X-ray detectors, Quantum efficiency, Space operations, CMOS sensors

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Proceedings Article | 21 August 2024 Presentation + Paper

BlackCAT: an upcoming soft x-ray coded aperture telescope on a 6U CubeSat

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

Proceedings Volume 13093, 1309317 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020370

KEYWORDS: X-rays, Space operations, Sensors, CMOS sensors, X-ray telescopes, Design, Gamma radiation, Coded apertures, X-ray detectors, Equipment

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Proceedings Article | 5 October 2023 Presentation + Paper

Current status of the BlackCAT CubeSat

Joseph Colosimo, Abe Falcone, Mitchell Wages, Michael Betts, William Bevidas, Jacob Buffington, David Burrows, Zachary Catlin, Timothy Emeigh, Derek Fox, Hannah Grzybowski, Frederic Hancock, Evan Jennerjahn, Jordan Josties, David Palmer, Collin Reichard, Ana Scigliani, Lukas Stone, Ian Thornton, Daniel Washington, Michael Zugger

Proceedings Volume 12678, 1267811 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2669308

KEYWORDS: Design and modelling, X-ray telescopes, Equipment, X-rays, X-ray detectors, Telescopes, Space operations, Observatories, CMOS sensors

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Proceedings Article | 31 August 2022 Poster + Paper

Mechanical and thermal design of the BlackCAT CubeSat

Logan Baker, Mitchell Wages, Abraham Falcone, Daniel LaRocca, Gooderham McCormick, Cole Armstrong, Tyler Anderson, David Burrows, Zachary Catlin, Joseph Colosimo, Seth Culbertson, Derek Fox, Hannah Grzybowski, Evan Jennerjahn, David Palmer, Lukas Stone, Daniel Washington

Proceedings Volume 12181, 1218158 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2629543

KEYWORDS: Thermal engineering, Staring arrays, Sensors, 3D modeling, X-rays, Mechanical engineering, Electronics, Coded apertures, X-ray detectors, Visualization, Tolerancing

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The BlackCAT observatory makes use of a 6U CubeSat platform with an x-ray coded aperture telescope payload. BlackCAT, utilizing its wide field-of-view (0.9 steradians), will monitor deep space for a variety of x-ray transients and flares, with a primary focus on high redshift gamma-ray bursts. The payload consists of a detector module (DM), a dedicated electronics package, mechanical mounts, and thermal straps for passive cooling. The DM includes the DM housing, coded aperture mask, optical blocking filter (OBF), and a focal plane array (FPA) consisting of four x-ray hybrid CMOS detectors (HCDs). Each of these four detectors is a 550×550-pixel Speedster-EXD silicon sensor with a molybdenum package to provide a low-strain thermal and mechanical mounting structure. The primary purpose of the electronics package is reading out and processing data from the HCDs. For optimal scientific performance, the FPA must be maintained at a temperature of -40°C or below. The detectors have an aluminum OBF directly deposited because the silicon detectors are sensitive to optical light. For additional optical blocking against the brightest optical background and UV light, a separate OBF will be mounted in front of the detector surface. The coded aperture mask is a wire mesh made of nickel with a thin layer of gold coating all sides. The mask allows approximately 40% of incident x-rays to strike the detector in a unique pattern that is dependent upon source position and the open cell geometry. This allows for the angular position of the source to be determined to sub-arcminute precision. To prevent deformation due to thermal strain, the mask is required to maintain a set temperature between 10°C and 20°C. The DM housing acts as the primary support structure for the payload and is thick enough to provide shielding from off-axis x-rays and optical/UV light. The OBF is directly connected to the DM housing, while the mask and FPA are both thermally isolated via standoffs to meet respective temperature requirements. Additionally, the DM housing is the interface between the payload components and the chassis. We present an overview of the mechanical and thermal payload requirements, as well as design constraints imposed by the 6U CubeSat form factor. We describe the designs used to meet these requirements and present analyses to demonstrate the efficacy of these designs. The mechanical requirements and information from thermal analyses will drive the overall design of the BlackCAT CubeSat to achieve the science goals throughout the mission lifetime.

Proceedings Article | 31 August 2022 Poster + Paper

Estimating the background of the BlackCAT CubeSat and its impact on science observations

Joseph Colosimo, Abraham Falcone, Tyler Anderson, Cole Armstrong, Logan Baker, David Burrows, Zachary Catlin, Seth Culbertson, Derek Fox, Hannah Grzybowski, Evan Jennerjahn, Daniel LaRocca, Gooderham McCormick, David Palmer, Lukas Stone, Mitchell Wages, Daniel Washington

Proceedings Volume 12181, 1218159 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2617438

KEYWORDS: X-ray astronomy, Coded aperture imaging, X-rays, Sensors, Photons, Electrons, Extreme ultraviolet, Particles, X-ray detectors, Optical filters, Quantum efficiency

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Proceedings Article | 24 August 2021 Presentation + Paper

The Gamow Explorer: a Gamma-Ray Burst Observatory to study the high redshift universe and enable multi-messenger astrophysics

N. White, F. Bauer, W. Baumgartner, M. Bautz, E. Berger, B. Cenko, T.-C. Chang, A. Falcone, H. Fausey, C. Feldman, D. Fox, O. Fox, A. Fruchter, C. Fryer, G. Ghirlanda, K. Gorski, C. Grant, S. Guiriec, M. Hart, D. Hartmann, J. Hennawi, D. Kann, D. Kaplan, J. Kennea, D. Kocevski, C. Kouveliotou, C. Lawrence, A. Levan, A. Lidz, A. Lien, T. Littenberg, L. Mas-Ribas, M. Moss, P. O'Brien, J. O'Meara, D. Palmer, D. Pasham, J. Racusin, R. Remillard, O. Roberts, P. Roming, M. Rud, R. Salvaterra, R. Sambruna, M. Seiffert, G. Sun, N. R. Tanvir, R. Terrile, N. Thomas, A. van der Horst, W. T. Verstrand, P. Willems, C. Wilson-Hodge, E. Young, L. Amati, E. Bozzo, O. Karczewski, C. Hernandez-Monteagudo, R. Rebolo Lopez, R. Genova-Santos, A. Martin, J. Granot, P. Bemiamini, R. Gil, E. Burns

Proceedings Volume 11821, 1182109 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2599293

KEYWORDS: Galactic astronomy, X-rays, Stars, Observatories, James Webb Space Telescope, Astrophysics, Sensors, Metals, Absorption, Telescopes

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