UC leads launch of rocket Falcon 9 to ESA's International Space Station
According to the GLOSS leader, to observe the Universe in the X-ray and gamma-ray bands (high-energy astrophysics), telescopes in space equipped with sensors that can capture images of the sky in these bands of the electromagnetic spectrum are necessary since the atmosphere absorbs this type of radiation before it reaches the Earth's surface.
Rui Curado Silva, professor at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) and researcher at the Laboratory of Instrumentation and Experimental Particle Physics (LIP), together with Jorge Maia from the University of Beira Interior (UBI), will lead the scientific experiment GLOSS - Gamma-ray Laue Optics and Solid State Detectors. It will be launched by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to the European Space Agency's (ESA) International Space Station (ISS) from Florida at 02:29 (GMT) on 5 November. The launch has been designated Dragon CRS-2 SpX-31.
"For about a year, material samples (CZT: cadmium zinc telluride) from the future gamma-ray telescope chambers will be exposed to the space environment (orbital radiation, extreme thermal amplitudes and oxidation). These sensors degrade and lose sensitivity when operating in space. To date, the relationship between the exposure time of these sensors to the space environment and their performance degradation has never been the subject of in-depth study," says the FCTUC professor.
According to the GLOSS leader, to observe the Universe in the X-ray and gamma-ray bands (high-energy astrophysics), telescopes in space equipped with sensors that can capture images of the sky in these bands of the electromagnetic spectrum are necessary since the atmosphere absorbs this type of radiation before it reaches the Earth's surface.
"These sensors will be transported aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule to the International Space Station tomorrow. After the capsule docks with the ISS, astronauts will transport the sensors, mounted on a metal support, to the station's external hatch. He explains that a Canadian robotic arm installed outside will pick up the sensors from the hatch and move them to the Bartolomeo platform," he explains.
This external platform is exposed to radiation and temperature extremes, reaching -150°C when the ISS is on the dark side of the Earth and 120°C when it is sunlit. "After a year of exposure to radiation and extreme temperatures on the Bartolomeo platform, the CZT sensors will be brought back to Coimbra, where their operational degradation will be assessed and their performance compared to that of the sensors before they went into space," explains the physicist.
The team will then investigate whether these sensors can be integrated into future space telescopes for high-energy astrophysics, and whether they can be improved.
Funded by ESA's PRODEX programme and the Portuguese Space Agency, GLOSS was selected in ESA's Euro Material Ageing competition. In addition to FCTUC, the experiment involves teams from the Observatory for Astrophysics and Space Science in Bologna, the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF/OAS-Bologna) and the Institute of Materials for Electronics and Magnetism of the National Research Council of Parma (CNR/IMEM-Parma, Italy).
Watch the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 here.