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A mercuric detector system for x-ray astronomy. 2. results from flight tests of a balloon borne instrument
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Vallerga, J. Ricker, G. R. Vanderspek, R. K. |
| Copyright Year | 1982 |
| Description | To establish the expected sensitivity of a new hard X-ray telescope design, an experiment was conducted to measure the background counting rate at balloon altitudes (40 km) of mercuric iodide, a room temperature solid state X-ray detector. The prototype detector consisted of two thin mercuric iodide (HgI2) detectors surrounded by a large bismuth germanate (Bi4Ge3O12) scintillator operated in anticoincidence. The bismuth germanate shield vetoed most of the background counting rate induced by atmospheric gamma-rays, neutrons and cosmic rays. A balloon-borne gondola containing a prototype detector assembly was designed, constructed and flown twice in the spring of 1982 from Palestine, Texas. The second flight of this instrument established a differential background counting rate of 4.2 O.7 x 10-5 counts/sec cm keV over the energy range of 40 to 80 keV. This measurement was within 50% of the predicted value. The measured rate is approx 5 times lower than previously achieved in shielded NaI/CsI or Ge systems operating in the same energy range. The prediction was based on a Monte Carlo simulation of the detector assembly in the radiation environment at float altitude. |
| File Size | 1965057 |
| Page Count | 31 |
| File Format | |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_19840008027 |
| Archival Resource Key | ark:/13960/t15n11x6z |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 1982-01-01 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Astronomy Flight Tests Balloon-borne Instruments Iodides Scintillation Counters Bismuth Atmospheric Radiation X Ray Astronomy Monte Carlo Method Background Radiation Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Technical Report |
