Instruments of RT-2 Experiment onboard CORONAS-PHOTON and their test and evaluation V: Onboard software, Data Structure, Telemetry and Telecommand

The onboard software and data communication in the RT-2 Experiment onboard the Coronas-Photon satellite is organized in a hierarchical way to effectively handle and communicate asynchronous data generated by the X-ray detectors. A flexible data handling system is organized in the X-ray detector packages themselves and the processing electronic device, namely RT-2/E, has the necessary intelligence to communicate with the 3 scientific payloads by issuing commands and receiving data. It has direct interfacing with the Satellite systems and issues commands to the detectors and processes the detector data before sending to the satellite systems. The onboard software is configured with several novel features like a) device independent communication scheme, b) loss-less data compression and c) Digital Signal Processor. Functionality of the onboard software along with the data structure, command structure, complex processing scheme etc. are discussed in this paper.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy (in press

Instruments of RT-2 Experiment onboard CORONAS-PHOTON and their test and evaluation II: RT-2/CZT payload

Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors are high sensitivity and high resolution devices for hard X-ray imaging and spectroscopic studies. The new series of CZT detector modules (OMS40G256) manufactured by Orbotech Medical Solutions (OMS), Israel, are used in the RT-2/CZT payload onboard the CORONAS-PHOTON satellite. The CZT detectors, sensitive in the energy range of 20 keV to 150 keV, are used to image solar flares in hard X-rays. Since these modules are essentially manufactured for commercial applications, we have carried out a series of comprehensive tests on these modules so that they can be confidently used in space-borne systems. These tests lead us to select the best three pieces of the 'Gold' modules for the RT-2/CZT payload. This paper presents the characterization of CZT modules and the criteria followed for selecting the ones for the RT-2/CZT payload. The RT-2/CZT payload carries, along with three CZT modules, a high spatial resolution CMOS detector for high resolution imaging of transient X-ray events. Therefore, we discuss the characterization of the CMOS detector as well.Comment: 26 pages, 19 figures, Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy (in press

Indian payloads (RT-2 Experiment) onboard CORONAS-PHOTON mission

RT-2 Experiment (RT - Roentgen Telescope) is a low energy gamma-ray instrument which is designed and developed as a part of Indo-Russian collaborative project of CORONAS-PHOTON Mission to study the Solar flares in wide energy band of electromagnetic spectrum ranging from UV to high-energy γ-rays (~ 2000 MeV). RT-2 instruments will cover the energy range of 15 keV to 150 keV extendable up to ~ 1 MeV. It consists of three detectors (two Phoswich detectors, namely, RT-2/S, RT-2/G and one solid-state imaging detector RT-2/CZT) and one processing electronic device (RT-2/E). Both Phoswich detectors will have time resolved spectrum, whereas the solid-state imaging detector will have high resolved image of the solar flares in hard X-rays. We have used Co-57 (122 keV) radio-active source for onboard calibration of all three detectors. In this paper, we briefly discuss the in-flight performance of RT-2 instruments and present initial flight data from the instruments. This mission was launched into polar LEO (Low Earth Orbit) (~ 550 km) on 30th January 2009 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia

RT-2 Detection of Quasi-Periodic Pulsations in the 2009 July 5 Solar Hard X-ray Flare

We present the results of an analysis of hard X-ray observations of the C2.7 solar flare detected by the RT-2 Experiment onboard the Coronas - Photon satellite. We detect hard X-ray pulsations at periods of ~12 s and ~15 s. We find a marginal evidence for a decrease in period with time. We have augmented these results using the publicly available data from the RHESSI satellite. We present a spectral analysis and measure the spectral parameters.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures and 3 tables, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Detection of GRB 090618 with RT-2 Experiment Onboard the Coronas-Photon Satellite

We present the results of an analysis of the prompt gamma-ray emission from GRB 090618 using the RT-2 Experiment onboard the Coronas-Photon satellite. GRB 090618 shows multiple peaks and a detailed study of the temporal structure as a function of energy is carried out. As the GRB was incident at an angle of 77 degree to the detector axis, we have generated appropriate response functions of the detectors to derive the spectrum of this GRB. We have augmented these results using the publicly available data from the Swift BAT detector and show that a combined spectral analysis can measure the spectral parameters quite accurately. We also attempt a spectral and timing analysis of individual peaks and find evidence for a systematic change in the pulse emission characteristics for the successive pulses. In particular, we find that the peak energy of the spectrum, E_p, is found to monotonically decrease with time, for the successive pulses of this GRB.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Position sensitive proportional counter

We are developing a Position Sensitive Proportional Counter for X-rays in the energy range from 2 keV to 20 keV. With the sensitive circular area of 30 mm diameter, it can be used as an imaging detector at the focal plane of a soft X-ray optics. For two demensional position determination of an X-ray event, two multi wire cathode grids of 50 ?m wire spaced at 0.5 mm are used. The final position of the event is obtained by calculating the center of gravity of the charge spread. Accuracy of the order 50 ?m can be achieved by this method. The main anode grid made up of 25 ?m wire spaced at 1 mm gives the standard energy resolution of the proportional counter. Another anode grid is used as an anti-coincidence counter to achieve high degree of background rejection

A high sensitivity phoswich scintillator X-ray telescope for hard X-ray (20-120 keV) astronomy from balloon platform

A large area (400 cm2) low background X-ray telescope consisting of four collimated NaI/CsI scintillator phoswich detectors (each 100 cm2) was built and successfully flown several times during 1980-1984. The phoswich configuration enables one to eliminate X-ray background produced by high energy atmospheric and cosmic gamma-rays. Combined with large area, small field of view (5° × 5°) and large exposure time that was possible due to an on-board telescope pointing programmer, for the 20 - 120 Kev energy range, 3σ sensitivity achieved was 5 × 10-6 photon/cm2 sec Kev for exposure time of 104 sec at observational altitude of 4 g/cm2. The Instrument characteristics, relevant details on pointing system, detector system, associated electronics and telemetry and in-flight performance in 1983 and 1984 are presented