BlackCAT
BlackCAT is a wide field X-ray imaging telescope placed on a 6U CubeSat satellite to observe gamma ray bursts and other high energy transient and flaring sources using novel X-ray hybrid CMOS detectors (see below). Applying the Speedster-exd-550 will further their technological readiness level and provide invaluable information on their capabilities.
Left: A SolidWorks model of the instrument and spacecraft avionics on BlackCAT.
BlackCAT Team Meets at the Barron Innovation Hub
The BlackCAT team meets to present and discuss the design and progress of the BlackCAT CubeSat Mission.
Detector Development
Small Pixel / Fine Resolution (e.g. for Lynx):
A promising candidate for future x-ray missions, these devices offer fast readout capability, low power consumption, and radiation hardness while maintaining high detection efficiency from 0.3 to 10 keV.
High Speed / Event Driven Hybrid CMOS Detectors: The Speedster-EXD
This novel X-ray detector is designed to perform on-chip event recognition and to read out only pixels containing X-ray events. It operates at effective frame rates of over 10,000 frames per second, providing excellent performance for bright X-ray sources and/or high-throughput optics.
HxRG for X-Ray Astronomy:
The first X-ray Hybrid CMOS Detectors (HCDs) that we developed in a project with Teledyne Imaging Systems made use of high TRL HxRG detectors. They have advantages over X-ray CCDs due to their higher readout rate abilities, flexible readout, inherent radiation hardness, and low power, which make them suitable for the next generation large-area X-ray telescope missions.
Right: Picture of the interior of the camera chamber. The H2RG detector (which is a 2048×2048 pixel detector with 100 micron thick fully depleted Silicon) is mounted on the cold finger. The reflection of the blue glove can be seen on the optical filter. The cryo-SIDECAR ASIC to the right of the detector is mounted on the side wall using four standoffs. There is a Fe55 calibration source in the top left corner of the filter.
The BlackCAT team meets to present and discuss the design and progress of the BlackCAT CubeSat Mission.
Electronics Development
Event Recognition Processor Board:
This section is under development.
BlackCAT Payload Electronics:
This section is under development.
Camera Interface Board for the Water Recover X-ray Rocket:
This section is under development.
Data Analysis
This section is currently under development.