Many interesting astrophysical objects are intense X-ray emitters. Hard X-ray observatories in various sizes have been operating in space and providing exciting scientific results that we cannot obtain in our laboratories on Earth. Nanosatellites with CdZnTe hard X-ray detectors have been launched into orbit as well, and the future holds great promise with such small satellites contributing significantly to high energy astrophysics. One of those satellites is the BeEagleSat which carried the X-ray detector (XRD)to low Earth orbit. The XRD has a 15153 mm³volume CdZnTe detector, a cross-strip electrode design, a RENA readout chip controlled by an MSP 430 microcontroller. Due to a communication problem with the receiver, no science data could have been downloaded from the XRD. Recently, an improved version of the XRD has been designed (called the iXRD)and currently it is in the production phase. The improvements compared to the XRD are the larger volume crystal with almost three times the collecting area, a collimator to limit the field of view for focused scientific return, and a motherboard-daughterboard design to reduce electronic noise. ... Read more

A CdZnTe based semiconductor X-ray detector (XRD) and its associated readout electronics has been developed by the Space Systems Design and Testing Laboratory of Istanbul Technical University and the High Energy Astrophysics Detector I-Aboratory of Sabanci University along with an SME partner. The XRD will be the secondary science mission on board BeEagleSat, which is developed as one of the double CubeSats for the QB50 project. QB50 is a European Framework 7 projcct carried out by a number of international organizations led by the von Karman Institute of Belgium. The heart of the XRD is a 2.5 mm thick, 15 mm x 15 mm CdZnTe crystal with orthogonal electrode strips on top and bottom for position resolution on the crystal. There are 3 sets of steering electrodes in between anodes. A commercial off the shelf (COTS) high voltage source provides necessary potential difference to transport electrons and holes towards electrodes. The signals from each strip are read by a COTS ASIC, RENA-3b, controlled my MSP 430. The XRD board (single -10 cm x 10 cm board) also carries the necessary power regulators and 7 COTS batteries. In a previous paper presented at the IAC 2014, we discussed the main design of the XRD and provided results from some of the early vibration tests of the mechanical design. At the time, the CdZnTe crystal has not been attached, and the readout electronics and software were still in development phase. In this paper, we present the laboratory performance of the electronic readout system and discuss the current phase of the XRD development. ... Read more