CATCH: Chasing All Transients Constellation Hunters Space Mission
Abstract
In time-domain astronomy, a substantial number of transients will be discovered by multi-wavelength and multi-messenger observatories, posing a great challenge for follow-up capabilities. We have thus proposed an intelligent X-ray constellation, the Chasing All Transients Constellation Hunters (CATCH) space mission. Consisting of 126 micro-satellites in three types, CATCH will have the capability to perform follow-up observations for a large number of different types of transients simultaneously. Each satellite in the constellation will carry lightweight X-ray optics and use a deployable mast to increase the focal length. The combination of different optics and detector systems enables different types of satellites to have multiform observation capabilities, including timing, spectroscopy, imaging, and polarization. Controlled by the intelligent system, different satellites can cooperate to perform uninterrupted monitoring, all-sky follow-up observations, and scanning observations with a flexible field of view (FOV) and multi-dimensional observations. Therefore, CATCH will be a powerful mission to study the dynamic universe. Here, we present the current design of the spacecraft, optics, detector system, constellation configuration and observing modes, as well as the development plan.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2210.06109,
title = {CATCH: Chasing All Transients Constellation Hunters Space Mission},
author = {Panping Li and Qian-Qing Yin and Zhengwei Li and Lian Tao and Xiangyang Wen and Shuang-Nan Zhang and Liqiang Qi and Juan Zhang and Donghua Zhao and Dalin Li and Xizheng Yu and Qingcui Bu and Wen Chen and Yupeng Chen and Yiming Huang and Yue Huang and Ge Jin and Gang Li and Hongbang Liu and Xiaojing Liu and Ruican Ma and Wenxi Peng and Ruijing Tang and Yusa Wang and Jingyu Xiao and Shaolin Xiong and Sheng Yang and Yanji Yang and Chen Zhang and Tianchong Zhang and Liang Zhang and Xuan Zhang and Haisheng Zhao and Kang Zhao and Qingchang Zhao and Shujie Zhao and Xing Zhou},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.06109},
year = {2023}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy. 43 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables