Small Spacecraft Payload Study for X-ray Astrophysics including GRB Science

Abstract

This paper presents microsatellite spacecraft payload study for prompt observation of transient astrophysical objects in X-ray energy range. By combining telescope concepts and miniaturized detectors, the small spacecraft will be able to probe the X-ray temporal emissions of bright events such as Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), X-ray transients or the electromagnetic counterparts of Gravitational Wave Events (GWEs), but also short and long term observations of other types of variable X-ray sources. The spacecraft is based on the CubeSat nanosatellite platform with a volume of 16U. The spacecraft carries two types of X-ray telescopes onboard. The first is intended for X-ray transient monitoring and localization, and the second for detailed spectroscopic observation. The X-ray monitor/localization telescope with wide field of view of several arc degrees is used for localization and flux measurement of X-ray transients, as well as for permanent monitoring of Galactic center area. This telescope is based on Lobster Eye X-ray optics together with pixel detector based on the Timepix3 Quad detector. Rapid follow-up observation by soft X-ray spectroscopy is enabled by a second X-ray spectroscopic telescope with limited FOV (Field of View) of several arcmins with no spatial and/or angular resolution. The spectroscopic telescope uses condenser optics based on replicated parabolic total reflection system (or, alternatively, Wolter system) and a Ketek X-ray SDD detector with energy resolution of about 130 eV as a detector. In addition to technical and instrumental aspects, observational strategy and astrophysical issues and justifications are also addressed in the paper.

Preliminary optical tests of lobster eye X-ray optics prototype for nano-satellite missions based on new technology

“…The lobster eye optics is intended mainly for X-rays. Its main advantage is wide field of view, therefore the lobster eye optics is suitable mainly for space X-ray monitors (Dániel et al, 2022;Hudec & Feldman, 2022;Hudec et al, 2018Hudec et al, , 2017b Schmidt lobster eye geometry is defined by these parameters:…”

Development of an operation plan for observing the Galactic center region with the lobster-eye monitor

“…The recent progress in CubeSat-related techniques and technologies allows missions with small scientific payloads like novel lobster-eye (LE) telescopes to be considered (Hudec et al, 2010;Tichý et al, 2015;Hudec, 2017;Hudec, 2019a;Tichý et al, 2019;Hudec, 2019b;Dániel et al, 2022).…”