HERMES (High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites) Technological and Scientific pathfinder is a space borne mission based on a LEO constellation of nano-satellites. The 3U CubeSat buses host new miniaturized detectors to probe the temporal emission of bright high-energy transients such as Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). Fast transient localization, in a field of view of several steradians and with arcmin-level accuracy, is gained by comparing time delays among the same event detection epochs occurred on at least 3 nano-satellites. With a launch date in 2022, HERMES transient monitoring represents a keystone capability to complement the next generation of gravitational wave experiments. In this paper we will illustrate the HERMES payload design, highlighting the technical solutions adopted to allow a wide-energy-band and sensitive X-ray and gamma-ray detector to be accommodated in a CubeSat 1U volume together with its complete control electronics and data handling system.
@article{arxiv.2101.03032,
title = {The scientific payload on-board the HERMES-TP and HERMES-SP CubeSat missions},
author = {Y. Evangelista and F. Fiore and F. Fuschino and R. Campana and F. Ceraudo and E. Demenev and A. Guzman and C. Labanti and G. La Rosa and M. Fiorini and M. Gandola and M. Grassi and F. Mele and D. Milankovich and G. Morgante and P. Nogara and A. Pal and R. Piazzolla and S. Pliego Caballero and I. Rashevskaya and F. Russo and G. Sciarrone and G. Sottile and the HERMES-TP and HERMES-SP Collaborations},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.03032},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
12 pages, 13 figures. Proceedings of SPIE "Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation" 2020