Publication detail

Early results from GRBAlpha and VZLUSAT-2

Jakub Ripa, Andras Pal, Masanori Ohno, Norbert Werner, Laszlo Meszaros, Balazs Csak, Marianna Dafcikova, Vladimir Daniel, Juraj Dudas, Marcel Frajt, Peter Hanak, Jan Hudec, Milan Junas, Jakub Kapus, Miroslav Kasal, Martin Koleda, Robert Laszlo, Pavol Lipovsky, Filip Munz, Maksim Rezenov, Miroslav Smelko, Petr Svoboda, Hiromitsu Takahashi, Martin Topinka, Tomas Urbanec, Jean-Paul Breuer, Teruaki Enoto, Zsolt Frei, Yasushi Fukazawa, Gabor Galgoczi, Filip Hroch, Yuto Ichinohe, Laszlo Kiss, Hiroto Matake, Tsune

Original Title

Early results from GRBAlpha and VZLUSAT-2

Type

conference paper

Language

English

Original Abstract

We present the detector performance and early science results from GRBAlpha, a 1U CubeSat mission, which is a technological pathfinder to a future constellation of nanosatellites monitoring gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). GRBAlpha was launched in March 2021 and operates on a 550km altitude sun-synchronous orbit. The gamma-ray burst detector onboard GRBAlpha consists of a 75x75x5mm CsI(Tl) scintillator, read out by a dual-channel multi-pixel photon counter (MPPC) setup. It is sensitive in the similar to 30-900 keV range. The main goal of GRBAlpha is the in-orbit demonstration of the detector concept, verification of the detector's lifetime, and measurement of the background level on low-Earth orbit, including regions inside the outer Van Allen radiation belt and in the South Atlantic Anomaly. GRBAlpha has already detected five, both long and short, GRBs and two bursts were detected within a time-span of only 8 hours, proving that nanosatellites can be used for routine detection of gamma-ray transients. For one GRB, we were able to obtain a high resolution spectrum and compare it with measurements from the Swift satellite. We find that, due to the variable background, the time fraction of about 67% of the low-Earth polar orbit is suitable for gamma-ray burst detection. One year after launch, the detector performance is good and the degradation of the MPPC photon counters remains at an acceptable level. The same detector system, but double in size, was launched in January 2022 on VZLUSAT-2 (3U CubeSat). It performs well and already detected three GRBs and two solar flares. Here, we present early results from this mission as well.

Keywords

gamma-rays; gamma-ray bursts; high-energy astrophysics; nano-satellites; instrumentation; detectors; scintillators; multi-pixel photon counter; low Earth orbit background

Authors

Jakub Ripa, Andras Pal, Masanori Ohno, Norbert Werner, Laszlo Meszaros, Balazs Csak, Marianna Dafcikova, Vladimir Daniel, Juraj Dudas, Marcel Frajt, Peter Hanak, Jan Hudec, Milan Junas, Jakub Kapus, Miroslav Kasal, Martin Koleda, Robert Laszlo, Pavol Lipovsky, Filip Munz, Maksim Rezenov, Miroslav Smelko, Petr Svoboda, Hiromitsu Takahashi, Martin Topinka, Tomas Urbanec, Jean-Paul Breuer, Teruaki Enoto, Zsolt Frei, Yasushi Fukazawa, Gabor Galgoczi, Filip Hroch, Yuto Ichinohe, Laszlo Kiss, Hiroto Matake, Tsune

Released

18. 7. 2022

Publisher

SPIE-INT SOC OPTICAL ENGINEERING

Location

BELLINGHAM

ISBN

978-1-5106-5344-3

Book

Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

Edition

Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

Edition number

Volume 12181

Pages count

11

URL

https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.03272

BibTex

@inproceedings{BUT181447,
  author="Juraj {Dudáš} and Milan {Junas} and Jakub {Kapuš} and Miroslav {Kasal} and Filip {Münz} and Martin {Topinka} and Tomáš {Urbanec}",
  title="Early results from GRBAlpha and VZLUSAT-2",
  booktitle="Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering",
  year="2022",
  series="Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray",
  volume="12181",
  number="Volume 12181",
  pages="11",
  publisher="SPIE-INT SOC OPTICAL ENGINEERING",
  address="BELLINGHAM",
  doi="10.1117/12.2629332",
  isbn="978-1-5106-5344-3",
  url="https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.03272"
}