HERMES (High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites) Pathfinder is a space-borne mission based on a constellation of six nano-satellites flying in a low-Earth orbit (LEO). The 3U CubeSats, to be launched in early 2025, host miniaturized instruments with a hybrid Silicon Drift Detector/GAGG:Ce scintillator photodetector system, sensitive to X-rays and gamma-rays in a large energy band. HERMES will operate in conjunction with Australian Space Industry Responsive Intelligent Thermal (SpIRIT) 6U CubeSat, launched in December 2023. HERMES will probe the temporal emission of bright high-energy transients such as Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), ensuring a fast transient localization in a field of view of several steradians exploiting the triangulation technique. HERMES intrinsically modular transient monitoring experiment represents a keystone capability to complement the next generation of gravitational wave experiments. In this paper we outline the scientific case, development and programmatic status of the mission.
The Space Industry Responsive Intelligent Thermal (SpIRIT) 6U CubeSat nano-satellite is an Australian mission with Italian partecipation for high-energy astrophysics. The 6U CubeSat carries an actively cooled detector system payload in a Sun-synchronous orbit. This payload unit is identical to the six that will fly onboard the High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites (HERMES) Technologic and Scientific Pathfinder ASI mission, hosting compact and innovative X-ray and gamma-ray detector for high energy transients localization (e.g., GRBs). SpIRIT was successfully launched on December 1, 2023 with a SpaceX Falcon 9, and the payload commissioning is in progress and about to be completed. This paper will provide an overview of the SpIRIT scientific payload early orbital operations, with the commissioning and in-flight calibrations of the instrument.
SkyHopper is a proposed CubeSat mission to simultaneously observe 4 bands in the wavelength range from 0.8 to 1.7 micron. The light is captured by a telescope with a 100 mm × 200 mm primary and a field of view of 0.6° × 2.6°. A preliminary definition (phase B) of the optical telescope assembly for the mission is now completed. It is designed to make high precision intensity measurements of every object in the field of view. This brought a series of constraints to avoid stray light. Different optical designs were studied. A Kösters prism is used to split the light into 4 bands on a 2k x 2k detector. The telescope design is based on a 3 mirror anastigmat with additional lenses to provide good image quality in the final focal plane for all bands and also in the intermediate focal plane and the pupil plane where cold stops are needed. Aberrations and vignetting of the prism had to be removed. Science applications include exoplanet transits in front of low-mass stars, rapid Infrared follow-up of Gamma Ray Bursts and exploring the Cosmic Infrared Background.
This conference presentation was prepared for the conference on Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, part of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022.
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