Design, integration, and test of the scientific payloads on-board the HERMES constellation and the SpIRIT mission

TL;DR

This paper details the design, integration, and testing of high-energy astrophysics payloads on the HERMES nano-satellite constellation and the SpIRIT mission, enabling advanced gamma-ray and X-ray transient detection in space.

Contribution

It presents the technical solutions for integrating sensitive X-ray and gamma-ray detectors into compact CubeSat payloads for the HERMES and SpIRIT missions.

Findings

Successful payload design and integration for nano-satellites

Validation through comprehensive testing procedures

Capability to detect high-energy transient events in space

Abstract

HERMES (High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites) is a space-borne mission based on a constellation of nano-satellites flying in a low-Earth orbit (LEO). The six 3U CubeSat buses host new miniaturized instruments hosting a hybrid Silicon Drift Detector/GAGG:Ce scintillator photodetector system sensitive to X-rays and gamma-rays. HERMES will probe the temporal emission of bright high-energy transients such as Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), ensuring a fast transient localization (with arcmin-level accuracy) in a field of view of several steradians exploiting the triangulation technique. With a foreseen launch date in late 2023, HERMES transient monitoring represents a keystone capability to complement the next generation of gravitational wave experiments. Moreover, the HERMES constellation will operate in conjunction with the Space Industry Responsive Intelligent Thermal (SpIRIT) 6U CubeSat, to be launched in early 2023. SpIRIT is an Australian-Italian mission for high-energy astrophysics that will carry in a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) an actively cooled HERMES detector system payload. On behalf of the HERMES collaboration, in this paper we will illustrate the HERMES and SpIRIT payload design, integration and tests, highlighting the technical solutions adopted to allow a wide-energy-band and sensitive X-ray and gamma-ray detector to be accommodated in a 1U Cubesat volume.