NinjaSat: an agile CubeSat approach for monitoring of bright x-ray compact objects

Enoto, Teruaki; Tamagawa, Toru; Kitaguchi, Takao; Iwakiri, W.; Kato, Yo; Numazawa, Masaki; Mihara, T.; Takahashi, H.; Odaka, Hirokazu; Hu, Ching Han; Uchiyama, Hideki; Takeda, T.; Yoshida, Yoshiyuki; Sato, Hiroki; Uchiyama, Keisuke; Toeda, Junya; Kojima, Yasufumi; Nambu, Yohsuke; Itoh, Y.

doi:10.1117/12.2561152

Cited by 3 publications

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“…For the given main scientific objective of the Sharjah-Sat-1, observing bright compact sources, our mission may be most compared to NinjaSat [6], expected to be launched in 2023. The satellite is equipped with two identical non-imaging Gas Multiplier Counters sensitive to X-rays in the 2-50 keV band with a total effective area of 36 cm 2 at 6 keV.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Improved X-ray Detector (iXRD) on Sharjah-Sat-1, design principles, tests and ground calibration

et al. 2023

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The iXRD is the primary science payload on Sharjah-Sat-1, a 3U CubeSat expected to be launched in Q4, 2022. Its main scientific goal is monitoring bright hard X-ray sources and transients in 20 -200 keV band. The iXRD consists of a CdZnTe crystal (6.45 cm 2 area, 5 mm thickness), a Tungsten collimator with square holes with an opening angle of 4.26 • , readout and control electronics and power circuitry, a back-shield and mechanical structures. Some of the design elements of iXRD have been inherited from the XRD on BeEagleSat with significant improvements in terms of collecting area, X-ray background and electronic noise. In this article, the design of the iXRD is discussed in detail taking into account mechanical, electronics, control software and data handling aspects. Its expected performance is determined after ground calibration. Depending on the pixel size, the energy resolution is 4 -7 keV at 60 keV and the minimum detectable energy is 19 -23 keV.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Improved X-ray Detector (iXRD) on Sharjah-Sat-1, design principles, tests and ground calibration

et al. 2023

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“…NinjaSat is a 6U-size (10×20×30 cm 3 ) CubeSat X-ray observatory, which will be launched in October 2023 and observes the time variability of bright X-ray sources in the 2-50 keV band [3]. NinjaSat is equipped with two sets of Xe-based non-imaging gas X-ray detectors (Gas Multiplier Counters; GMCs).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gas selection for Xe-based LCP-GEM detectors onboard the CubeSat X-ray observatory NinjaSat

et al. 2023

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We present a gas selection for Xe-based gas electron multiplier (GEM) detectors, Gas Multiplier Counters (GMCs) onboard the CubeSat X-ray observatory NinjaSat. To achieve an energy bandpass of 2–50 keV, we decided to use a Xe-based gas mixture at a pressure of 1.2 atm that is sensitive to high-energy X-rays. In addition, an effective gain of over 300 is required for a single GEM so that the 2 keV X-ray signal can be sufficiently larger than the electrical noise. At first, we measured the effective gains of GEM in nine Xe-based gas mixtures (combinations of Xe, Ar, CO2, CH4, and dimethyl ether; DME) at 1.0 atm. The highest gains were obtained with Xe/Ar/DME mixtures, while relatively lower gains were obtained with Xe/Ar/CO2, Xe/Ar/CH4, and Xe+quencher mixtures. Based on these results, we selected the Xe/Ar/DME (75%/24%/1%) mixture at 1.2 atm as the sealed gas for GMC. Then we investigated the dependence of an effective gain on the electric fields in the drift and induction gaps ranging from 100–650 V cm-1 and 500–5000 V cm-1, respectively, in the selected gas mixture. The effective gain weakly depended on the drift field while it was almost linearly proportional to the induction field: 2.4 times higher at 5000 V cm-1 than at 1000 V cm-1. With the optimal induction and drift fields, the flight model GMC achieves an effective gain of 460 with an applied GEM voltage of 590 V.

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The Improved X-ray Detector (iXRD) on Sharjah-Sat-1, design principles, tests and ground calibration

Kalemci

Bozkurt

Aslan

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The ixRD is the primary science payload on Sharjah-Sat-1, a 3U CubeSat expected to be launched in Q4, 2022. Its main scientific goal is monitoring bright hard X-ray sources and transients in 20 - 200 keV band. The iXRD consists of a CdZnTe crystal (6.45 cm2 area, 5 mm thickness), a Tungsten collimator with square holes with an opening angle of 4.26o, readout and control electronics and power circuitry, a back-shield and mechanical structures. Some of the design elements of iXRD have been inherited from the XRD on BeEagleSat with significant improvements in terms of collecting area, X-ray background and electronic noise. In this article, the design of the iXRD is discussed in detail taking into account mechanical, electronics, control software and data handling aspects. Its expected performance is determined after ground calibration. Depending on the pixel size, the energy resolution is 4 - 7 keV at 60 keV and the minimum detectable energy is 19 - 23 keV.

show abstract

NinjaSat: an agile CubeSat approach for monitoring of bright x-ray compact objects

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

The Improved X-ray Detector (iXRD) on Sharjah-Sat-1, design principles, tests and ground calibration

The Improved X-ray Detector (iXRD) on Sharjah-Sat-1, design principles, tests and ground calibration

Gas selection for Xe-based LCP-GEM detectors onboard the CubeSat X-ray observatory NinjaSat

The Improved X-ray Detector (iXRD) on Sharjah-Sat-1, design principles, tests and ground calibration

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