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

Colosimo, Joseph M.; Falcone, A.; Anderson, Tyler; Armstrong, Cole R.; Baker, Logan D.; Burrows, D. N.; Catlin, Zachary E.; Culbertson, Seth K.; Fox, D. B.; Grzybowski, Hannah M.; Jennerjahn, Evan C.; LaRocca, Daniel M.; McCormick, Gooderham; Palmer, D. M.; Stone, Lukas R.; Wages, Mitchell; Washington, Daniel

doi:10.1117/12.2617438

Cited by 3 publications

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“…The detectors can thus operate at higher temperatures while still achieving performance comparable to that when they are cooled to lower temperatures. Furthermore, faster frame rates will also reduce the impact of optical and ultraviolet (UV) backgrounds, reducing the probability of these photons landing coincident to x-rays 10 . This allows for the use of thinner optical/UV blocking filters, which will provide the instrument with higher quantum efficiency at low energies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Initial characterization of the first Speedster-EXD550 event-driven X-ray hybrid CMOS detectors

Colosimo,

Grzybowski,

Jennerjahn

et al. 2023

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

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.Future x-ray observatories will require imaging detectors with fast readout speeds that simultaneously achieve or exceed the other high-performance parameters of x-ray charge-coupled devices used in many missions over the past three decades. Fast readout will reduce the impact of pile-up in missions with large collecting areas while improving the performance in other respects, such as timing resolution. Event-driven readout, in which only pixels with charge from x-ray events are read out, can be used to achieve these faster operating speeds. Speedster-EXD550 detectors are hybrid complementary metal-oxide semiconductor detectors capable of event-driven readout that were developed by Teledyne Imaging Sensors and Penn State University. We present the initial results from measurements of the first of these detectors, demonstrating their capabilities and performance in both full-frame and event-driven readout modes. These include dark current, read noise, gain variation, and energy resolution measurements from the first two engineering-grade devices.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Initial characterization of the first Speedster-EXD550 event-driven X-ray hybrid CMOS detectors

Colosimo,

Grzybowski,

Jennerjahn

et al. 2023

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

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

Falcone,

Colosimo,

Wages

et al. 2024

Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

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The BlackCAT CubeSat is an X-ray coded-aperture-telescope observatory that is expected to launch in 2025. It is designed for observations of bright X-ray sources in the 0.5-20 keV band. The instrument will have a wide field of view (0.85 steradian) and be capable of catching gamma ray bursts (GRBs) from the distant universe, galactic transients, and flares from blazars, while monitoring the X-ray sky. In addition to the primary high-redshift GRB science, BlackCAT can monitor known source variability and search for rare and exciting events including gravitational-wave X-ray counterparts, magnetar flares, supernova shock breakouts, and tidal disruption events. The mission will thus function as a multiwavelength and multi-messenger complement to present and future facilities including LIGO, VIRGO, KAGRA, IceCube, KM3NET, LSST, LOFAR, SKA, and CTA. Rapid notifications of burst positions will be transmitted to the ground via satellite network and then relayed to the GCN. The name BlackCAT is derived from its scientific emphasis on black-holerelated transient events being observed with a coded aperture telescope (CAT). BlackCAT will serve as the scientific payload aboard a commercial 6U CubeSat spacecraft provided by NanoAvionics US. Novel event-driven X-ray hybrid CMOS detectors will form the focal plane array. In addition to carrying out science programs related to distant GRBs, transients, and X-ray sky monitoring, BlackCAT will also serve as a pathfinder for future economical missions combining multiple BlackCAT modules on either a single small satellite or on multiple CubeSats. BlackCAT will also serve as a platform for new X-ray hybrid CMOS detector development. An overview of BlackCAT in its current development state and its current status will be presented.

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Expected Gamma-Ray Burst Detection Rates and Redshift Distributions for the BlackCAT CubeSat Mission

Colosimo,

Fox,

Falcone

et al. 2024

ApJ

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We report the results of an extensive set of simulations exploring the sensitivity of the BlackCAT CubeSat to long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). BlackCAT is a NASA APRA-funded CubeSat mission for the detection and real-time subarcminute localization of high-redshift (z ≳ 3.5) GRBs. Thanks to their luminous and long-lived afterglow emissions, GRBs are uniquely valuable probes of high-redshift star-forming galaxies and the intergalactic medium. In addition, each detected GRB with a known redshift serves to localize a region of high-redshift star formation in three dimensions, enabling deep follow-on searches for host galaxies and associated local and large-scale structures. We explore two distinct models for the GRB redshift distribution and luminosity function, both consistent with Swift observations. We find that, for either model, BlackCAT is expected to detect a mean of 42 bursts per year on orbit, with 6.7% to 10% of these at z > 3.5. BlackCAT bursts will be localized to an r 90 ≲ 55″ precision and reported to the community within seconds. Due to the mission orbit and pointing scheme, bursts will be located in the night sky and well placed for deep multiwavelength follow-up observations. BlackCAT is on schedule to achieve launch readiness in 2025.

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

Cited by 3 publications

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Initial characterization of the first Speedster-EXD550 event-driven X-ray hybrid CMOS detectors

Initial characterization of the first Speedster-EXD550 event-driven X-ray hybrid CMOS detectors

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

Expected Gamma-Ray Burst Detection Rates and Redshift Distributions for the BlackCAT CubeSat Mission

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