CAMELOT: Cubesats Applied for MEasuring and LOcalising Transients - Mission Overview

TL;DR

This paper proposes a fleet of nanosatellites equipped with gamma-ray detectors to perform all-sky monitoring and precise localization of gamma-ray transients, enhancing detection capabilities beyond current missions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel nanosatellite fleet design with synchronized timing and inter-satellite communication for improved gamma-ray transient detection and localization.

Findings

Fleet can localize bright short GRBs with ~10 arcminute accuracy.

Uses GPS for precise time synchronization across satellites.

Outperforms existing GRB monitoring missions in coverage.

Abstract

We propose a fleet of nanosatellites to perform an all-sky monitoring and timing based localisation of gamma-ray transients. The fleet of at least nine 3U cubesats shall be equipped with large and thin CsI(Tl) scintillator based soft gamma-ray detectors read out by multi-pixel photon counters. For bright short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), by cross-correlating their light curves, the fleet shall be able to determine the time difference of the arriving GRB signal between the satellites and thus determine the source position with an accuracy of $\sim10^\prime$. This requirement demands precise time synchronization and accurate time stamping of the detected gamma-ray photons, which will be achieved by using on-board GPS receivers. Rapid follow up observations at other wavelengths require the capability for fast, nearly simultaneous downlink of data using a global inter-satellite communication network. In terms of all-sky coverage, the proposed fleet will outperform all GRB monitoring missions.