The GRASP telescope

✍ Scribed by G. F. Bignami; A. J. Dean; Ph. Durouchoux; K. Hurley; N. Lund; B. McBreen; V. Schönfelder; B. N. Swanenburg; G. Tomaschek; C. Winkler

• Book ID: 104651476
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 711 KB
• Volume: 49
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0038-6308
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00173751

✦ Synopsis

The GRASP mission Gamma-Ray Astronomy with Spectroscopy and Positioning addresses the scientific goals of fine spectroscopy with imaging and accurate positioning of gamma-ray sources, an unexplored area within gamma-ray astronomy. The assessment of GRASP as a future space astronomy mission in the mid-1990s has led to the design of the instrument outlined in this article. Thus GRASP is a third generation gamma-ray telescope and is designed to operate as a high quality spectral imager in the mid-1990s, when, following the GRO, SIGMA, and GAMMA-1 missions, there will be requirement for a more sophisticated instrument to maintain the momentum of advance in gamma-ray astronomy. The telescope will be capable of locating point sources with a precision of typically 1 arc rain, whilst making a fine spectral analysis (E/AE ~ 1000) of any gamma-ray line features. The high sensitivity of this instrument and the long (> 2 year) lifetime of the mission will enable a large number (~ 1000) of astronomical objects to be studied. The GRASP mission has the potential to move gamma-ray astronomy from an era of basic exploration to one in which detailed and novel measurements can be used to gain a better understanding of many astrophysical problems.