The environmental test campaign of GMOD: a novel gamma-ray detector

Abstract

The Gamma-Ray Module (GMOD) is a novel gamma-ray detector developed for the study of high energy astrophysical transients called Gamma-Ray Bursts. GMOD has been designed in-house and will be flown on board EIRSAT-1, intended to be Ireland’s first satellite, a 2U CubeSat developed as part of the European Space Agency’s Fly Your Satellite! programme. The detector comprises a 25×25×40mm CeBr3 scintillator, coupled to a tiled array of 16 OnSemiconductor Silicon Photomultipliers with front-end readout provided by the IDE3380 SIPHRA. The readout is received by the GMOD Motherboard which provides temporary storage and support functionality for the instrument operation, including the transfer of Time-Tagged Event data to the EIRSAT-1 On Board Computer. The Engineering Qualification Model was environmentally tested following an approach tailored from the ECSS standards in early February 2020 at the CubeSat Support Facility in Transinne, Belgium. This campaign was conducted to qualify the hardware for low Earth orbit, including multi-axis vibration testing and thermal-vacuum cycling under qualification test levels and durations. GMOD was mounted on a 20kN electrodynamic shaker in which it underwent predefined sine and random vibration test profiles, demonstrating its ability to withstand the launch environment. The instrument was then thermally cycled under vacuum over a range spanning -31°C to +75°C, simulating the low Earth orbit environment. The results of the successful environmental qualification campaign of the Gamma-Ray Module from EIRSAT-1 are presented.