New developments in the protoMIRAX balloon telescope
Abstract
The protoMIRAX X-ray imaging telescope is a balloon-borne experiment under development at INPE as a pathfinder for the MIRAX (Monitor Imageador de Raios X) satellite mission. The main objective of protoMIRAX is to test several subsystems of MIRAX in a near-space environment, including hardware components, software for data acquisition and handling, and the implementation of novel coded-aperture techniques. A modified and space-qualified pro-toMIRAX camera will be one of the MIRAX instruments onboard the Lattes scientific satellite, scheduled to be launched in 2015 as part of the Brazilian space program. The experiment con-sists essentially in an X-ray (30-200 keV) coded-aperture imager which employs a square array of 196 10mm x 10mm x 2mm CdZnTe (CZT) detectors. A collimator defines a fully-coded field-of-view of 20o x 20o, with 4o x 4o of full sensitivity. In this paper we show new detailed simulations of the protoMIRAX camera background both at balloon-altitudes and at equatorial LEO using the GEANT-based MGGPOD package. We show results of simulations that identify the optimum mask pattern to use in this experiment in order to achieve the best combination of signal-to-noise ratio and angular resolution. We also present calibration results of the CZT detectors in the lab.
- Publication:
-
38th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010cosp...38.4071B