Margie - Minute of Arc resolution hard X-ray/gamma ray imaging telescope for an ultra long duration balloon mission

P. P. Altice, Louisiana State University
M. L. Cherry, Louisiana State University
D. L. Band, Los Alamos National Laboratory
J. Buckley, Washington University in St. Louis
T. G. Guzik, Louisiana State University
P. L. Hink, Washington University in St. Louis
S. C. Kappadath, Louisiana State University
J. R. Macri, University of New Hampshire Durham
J. L. Matteson, University of California, San Diego
M. L. McConnell, University of New Hampshire Durham
J. M. Ryan, University of New Hampshire Durham
K. R. Slavis, Washington University in St. Louis
J. G. Stacy, Louisiana State University

Abstract

MARGIE (Minute of Arc Resolution Gamma ray Imaging Experiment) is proposed to be a sensitive, large field-of-view, high angular resolution, hard X-ray/gamma ray (20-511 keV) telescope capable of observing gamma ray bursts and point sources with 〈1' resolution on a 100 day Ultra Long Duration Balloon (ULDB) mission. MARGIE will be designed to take full advantage of the weight, power, and telemetry capabilities appropriate for a ULDB mission. The current instrument design consists of five coded aperture γ-ray telescopes: a central telescope with 1892 cm 2 of detector area, 1.9' angular resolution, and 8.3° half-angle field of view (FOV); and four side-looking telescopes, each with 1945 cm 2 detector area, 3.8' resolution, and 26.1° FOV. The five γ-ray telescopes will be surrounded by 10 5 cm 2 of 1 cm thick NaI active anticoincidence shields designed both to provide shielding from background and to provide additional sensitive detector area for faint γ-ray bursts. The total instrument mass is 950 kg (science, not including NSBF electronics, ballast, etc.). The total instrument power requirement is 760 W. © 2002 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.