Experiment coordinated by LIP now approved by ESA
"The analysis of space environment effects on detector materials is essential to design future gamma ray missions. That is the goal of the experiment "Ageing of Ge/Si and CZT samples for sensors and Laue lenses", which will be installed outside the ISS"
The experiment "Ageing of Ge/Si and CZT samples for sensors and Laue lenses" coordinated by LIP, in collaboration with UBI-Covilhã, INAF/OAS-Bologna and CNR/IMEM-Parma, was selected by ESA to fly on-board the International Space Station (ISS) on behalf of ESA Announcement of Opportunity “Euro Material Ageing”. The analysis of space environment effects on the detection materials of future gamma-ray telescopes is crucial to design a high-energy astrophysics’ space mission. In this project, we intend to investigate radiation damage and ageing, and their effects on the operational performances in real in-orbit conditions.
Several samples of CZT, Ge and Si crystals that compose the instruments of such kind of missions will be installed in the Bartolomeo platform, outside the ISS. These sensors will be exposed to very low temperatures, around -150º C, when the ISS orbits on the night side of the Earth, and to temperatures around 120º C when the ISS is on the side of the Sun. As a bonus, they will be exposed to orbital radiation, especially protons. Then we will get the sensors back and measure the damage done to the materials. The launch of the samples is foreseen for the end of 2021 or beginning of 2022. The members of the LIP team are Rui Curado da Silva as PI, Jorge M. Maia as responsible for the CZT detectors tests, and Miguel Moita who will participate in the Si/Ge Laue samples testing.