GRBAlpha: the smallest astrophysical space observatory -- Part 1:   Detector design, system description and satellite operations

Andr\'as P\'al (1); Masanori Ohno (2); L\'aszl\'o M\'esz\'aros (1),; Norbert Werner (3); Jakub \v{R}\'ipa (3); Bal\'azs Cs\'ak (1); Marianna; Daf\v{c}\'ikov\'a (3); Marcel Frajt (4); Yasushi Fukazawa (2); Peter Han\'ak; (5); J\'an Hudec (4); Nikola Hus\'arikov\'a (3); Jakub Kapu\v{s} (4),; Miroslav Kasal (6); Martin Kol\'a\v{r} (3); Martin Koleda (7); Robert Laszlo; (7); Pavol Lipovsk\'y (5); Tsunefumi Mizuno (2); Filip M\"unz (3); Kazuhiro; Nakazawa (8); Maksim Rezenov (4); Miroslav \v{S}melko (9); Hiromitsu; Takahashi (2); Martin Topinka (10); Tom\'a\v{s} Urbanec (6); Jean-Paul Breuer; (3); Tam\'as Boz\'oki (11); Gergely D\'alya (12); Teruaki Enoto (13); Zsolt; Frei (14); Gergely Friss (14); G\'abor Galg\'oczi (14,15); Filip Hroch (3),; Yuto Ichinohe (16); Korn\'el Kap\'as (17,18,15); L\'aszl\'o L. Kiss (1),; Hiroto Matake (2); Hirokazu Odaka (19); Helen Poon (2); Ale\v{s} Povala\v{c}; (6); J\'anos Tak\'atsy (14,15); Kento Torigoe (2); Nagomi Uchida (20),; Yuusuke Uchida (21) ((1) Konkoly Observatory; Research Centre for Astronomy; and Earth Sciences; Budapest; Hungary; (2) Hiroshima University; School of; Science; Higashi-Hiroshima; Japan; (3) Department of Theoretical Physics and; Astrophysics; Faculty of Science; Masaryk University; Brno; Czech Republic,; (4) Spacemanic Ltd; Bratislava; Slovakia; (5) Faculty of Aeronautics,; Technical University of Ko\v{s}ice; Slovakia; (6) Department of Radio; Electronics; Faculty of Electrical Engineering; Communication; Brno; University of Technology; Brno; Czech Republic; (7) Needronix Ltd,; Bratislava; Slovakia; (8) Department of Physics; Nagoya University; Nagoya,; Aichi; Japan; (9) EDIS vvd.; Ko\v{s}ice; Slovakia; (10) INAF - Istituto di; Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica; Milano; Italy; (11) Institute of Earth; Physics; Space Science (EPSS); Sopron; Hungary; (12) Department of Physics; and Astronomy; Universiteit Gent; Ghent; Belgium; (13) School of Science,; Kyoto University; Kyoto; Japan; (14) E\"otv\"os Lor\'and University,; Budapest; Hungary; (15) Wigner Research Centre for Physics; Budapest,; Hungary; (16) Department of Physics; Rikkyo University; Tokyo; Japan; (17); Department of Theoretical Physics; Institute of Physics; Budapest University; of Technology; Economics; Budapest; Hungary; (18) MTA-BME Quantum Dynamics; and Correlations Research Group; Budapest University of Technology and; Economics; Budapest; Hungary; (19) Department of Earth; Space Science,; Osaka University; Toyonaka; Osaka; Japan; (20) Institute of Space and; Astronautical Science; Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency; Japan; (21) Tokyo; University of Science; Noda; Chiba; Japan)

arXiv:2302.10048·astro-ph.IM·March 29, 2023

GRBAlpha: the smallest astrophysical space observatory -- Part 1: Detector design, system description and satellite operations

Andr\'as P\'al (1), Masanori Ohno (2), L\'aszl\'o M\'esz\'aros (1),, Norbert Werner (3), Jakub \v{R}\'ipa (3), Bal\'azs Cs\'ak (1), Marianna, Daf\v{c}\'ikov\'a (3), Marcel Frajt (4), Yasushi Fukazawa (2), Peter Han\'ak, (5), J\'an Hudec (4), Nikola Hus\'arikov\'a (3)

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TL;DR

GRBAlpha is a compact 1U CubeSat that functions as the smallest astrophysical space observatory, capable of detecting and characterizing gamma-ray bursts with a novel detector design and semi-autonomous operations since 2021.

Contribution

This paper presents the design, system description, and operational details of GRBAlpha, demonstrating its capability as the smallest gamma-ray burst observatory in space.

Findings

01

Successfully operated since March 2021 detecting bright GRBs

02

Achieved gamma-ray detection in the 70-890 keV range with ~30% energy resolution

03

Provides raw data and telemetry to support community expansion and collaborative research.

Abstract

Aims. Since launched on 2021 March 22, the 1U-sized CubeSat GRBAlpha operates and collects scientific data on high-energy transients, making it the smallest astrophysical space observatory to date. GRBAlpha is an in-obit demonstration of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) detector concept suitably small to fit into a standard 1U volume. As it was demonstrated in a companion paper, GRBAlpha adds significant value to the scientific community with accurate characterization of bright GRBs, including the recent outstanding event of GRB 221009A. Methods. The GRB detector is a 75x75x5 mm CsI(Tl) scintillator wrapped in a reflective foil (ESR) read out by an array of SiPM detectors, multi-pixel photon counters by Hamamatsu, driven by two separate, redundant units. To further protect the scintillator block from sunlight and protect the SiPM detectors from particle radiation, we apply a multi-layer…

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Taxonomy

TopicsGamma-ray bursts and supernovae · Spacecraft Design and Technology · Astro and Planetary Science