GRBAlpha and VZLUSAT-2: GRB observations with CubeSats after 3 years of operations

Filip Münz; Jakub Řípa; András Pál; Marianna Dafčíková; Norbert Werner; Masanori Ohno; László Meszáros; Vladimír Dániel; Peter Hanák; Ján Hudec; Marcel Frajt; Jakub Kapuš; Petr Svoboda; Juraj Dudáš; Miroslav Kasal; Tomáš Vítek; Martin Kolář; Lea Szakszonová; Pavol Lipovský; Michaela Ďuríšková; Ivo Veřtát; Martin Sabol; Milan Junas; Roman Maroš; Pavel Kosík; Zsolt Frei; Hiromitsu Takahashi; Yasushi Fukazawa; Gábor Galgóczi; Balázs Czák; Robert László; Tsunefumi Mizuno; Nikola Husáriková; Kazuhiro Nakazawa

doi:10.1117/12.3025855

21 August 2024 GRBAlpha and VZLUSAT-2: GRB observations with CubeSats after 3 years of operations

Filip Münz, Jakub Řípa, András Pál, Marianna Dafčíková, Norbert Werner, Masanori Ohno, László Meszáros, Vladimír Dániel, Peter Hanák, Ján Hudec, Marcel Frajt, Jakub Kapuš, Petr Svoboda, Juraj Dudáš, Miroslav Kasal, Tomáš Vítek, Martin Kolář, Lea Szakszonová, Pavol Lipovský, Michaela Ďuríšková, Ivo Veřtát, Martin Sabol, Milan Junas, Roman Maroš, Pavel Kosík, Zsolt Frei, Hiromitsu Takahashi, Yasushi Fukazawa, Gábor Galgóczi, Balázs Czák, Robert László, Tsunefumi Mizuno, Nikola Husáriková, Kazuhiro Nakazawa

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 13093, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 130936J (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3025855
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Conference Poster

Abstract

GRBAlpha is a 1U CubeSat launched in March 2021 to a sun-synchronous LEO at an altitude of 550 km to perform an in-orbit demonstration of a novel gamma-ray burst detector developed for CubeSats. VZLUSAT-2 followed ten months later in a similar orbit carrying as a secondary payload a pair of identical detectors as used on the first mission. These instruments detecting gamma-rays in the range of 30-900 keV consist of a 56 cm2 5 mm thin CsI(Tl) scintillator read-out by a row of multi-pixel photon counters (MPPC or SiPM). The scientific motivation is to detect gamma-ray bursts and other HE transient events and serve as a pathfinder for a larger constellation of nanosatellites that could localize these events via triangulation.

At the beginning of July 2024, GRBAlpha detected 140 such transients, while VZLUSAT-2 had 83 positive detections, confirmed by larger GRB missions. Almost a hundred of them are identified as gamma-ray bursts, including extremely bright GRB 221009A and GRB 230307A, detected by both satellites. We were able to characterize the degradation of SiPMs in polar orbit and optimize the duty cycle of the detector system also by using SatNOGS radio network for downlink.

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

Filip Münz, Jakub Řípa, András Pál, Marianna Dafčíková, Norbert Werner, Masanori Ohno, László Meszáros, Vladimír Dániel, Peter Hanák, Ján Hudec, Marcel Frajt, Jakub Kapuš, Petr Svoboda, Juraj Dudáš, Miroslav Kasal, Tomáš Vítek, Martin Kolář, Lea Szakszonová, Pavol Lipovský, Michaela Ďuríšková, Ivo Veřtát, Martin Sabol, Milan Junas, Roman Maroš, Pavel Kosík, Zsolt Frei, Hiromitsu Takahashi, Yasushi Fukazawa, Gábor Galgóczi, Balázs Czák, Robert László, Tsunefumi Mizuno, Nikola Husáriková, and Kazuhiro Nakazawa "GRBAlpha and VZLUSAT-2: GRB observations with CubeSats after 3 years of operations", Proc. SPIE 13093, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 130936J (21 August 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3025855

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available