MeV Astrophysical Spectroscopic Surveyor (MASS): A Compton Telescope Mission Concept
We propose a future mission concept, the MeV Astrophysical Spectroscopic Surveyor (MASS), which is a large area Compton telescope using 3D position sensitive cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detectors optimized for emission line detection. The payload consists of two layers of CZT detectors in a misalig...
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
19.12.2023
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | We propose a future mission concept, the MeV Astrophysical Spectroscopic
Surveyor (MASS), which is a large area Compton telescope using 3D position
sensitive cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detectors optimized for emission line
detection. The payload consists of two layers of CZT detectors in a misaligned
chessboard layout, with a total geometric area of 4096 cm$^2$ for on-axis
observations. The detectors can be operated at room-temperature with an energy
resolution of 0.6\% at 0.662 MeV. The in-orbit background is estimated with a
mass model. At energies around 1 MeV, a line sensitivity of about $10^{-5}$
photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ can be obtained with a 1 Ms observation. The main
science objectives of MASS include nucleosynthesis in astrophysics and high
energy astrophysics related to compact objects and transient sources. The
payload CZT detectors weigh roughly 40 kg, suggesting that it can be integrated
into a micro- or mini-satellite. We have constructed a pathfinder, named as
MASS-Cube, to have a direct test of the technique with 4 detector units in
space in the near future. |
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DOI: | 10.48550/arxiv.2312.11900 |