X-ray detector XRD on BeEagleSat and the development of the improved X-ray detector iXRD

Abstract

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.