INTEGRAL (International Gamma Ray Astrophysical Laboratory) has been
successfully launched with a Proton rocket October the 17th, 2002 and
injected into the predicted highly excentric orbit (10.000km perigee and
153.000km apogee). This ESA satellite is a Space Observatory, opened to
the scientific community at large, and is an devoted to high resolution
imaging and spectroscopy in the hard X-ray / soft gamma ray range. The
mission
is currently approved for a duration of 2 years with expected extension
to
5. The INTEGRAL science payload consists of two main instruments, the
spectrometer SPI and the imager IBIS, both covering the 15 keV-10 MeV
range, complemented by two subsidiary instruments for X-ray (JEM-X) and
optical (OMC) monitoring. Thanks to the technological improvements the
INTEGRAL measurements will combine improved sensitivity with an angular
and spectroscopic resolution never reached before in the soft gamma ray
range (12'and deltaE= 2keV at 1 MeV). The CNR Institutes now forming
the IASF have been involved in INTEGRAL since its early phases. This has
led to a substantial participation of the four IASF Sections which play a
fundamental role in the INTEGRAL mission with important management and
realization responsibilities (PI of IBIS, Co-I's of JEM-X, SPI and ISDC).
IBIS (Imager on Board the INTEGRAL Satellite) is a coded mask gamma ray
telescope optimized for the imaging performances, based on innovative,
high technology solid state detectors. IASF/RM has the programmatic
responsibility of the whole IBIS instrument (PI and System Team) and was
responsible for the Veto system, the internal Calibration Unit and the
mechanical main frame.IASF/BO developed the PICsIT layer, which consists
of 8 modules, each including 512 independent detectors and is the result
of a strict cooperation between research institution and industry
(Laben).
SPI (SPectrometer on INTEGRAL) is based on an array of 19 hexagonal high
purity Ge detectors cooled by a Stirling cooler system to an operating
temperature of 85 K. A hexagonal coded aperture mask is located 1.7 m
above the detection plane in order to image large regions of the sky
(fully coded 16 degrees) with an angular resolution of 2 degrees. The
main IASF contribution to SPI consists of a plastic veto located below
the
mask, which is essential to reduce the 511 keV background to an
acceptable
level.JEM-X (Joint European X-ray Monitor) is made of two nearly
identical units and the IASF contribution to JEM-X consists of the High
Voltage suppliers, the calibration sources and the software for the
simulations and background evaluation.The ISDC (INTEGRAL Science Data
Center) is the scientific part of the INTEGRAL ground segment. This is
the
first time that the realization of such an important part of a space
mission has been assigned by ESA to a consortium of institutes funded by
national agencies. Like the other members of the international ISDC
consortium, IASF/MI has participated to the ISDC development by providing
scientific and software engineering staff at the ISDC premises (Geneve
Observatory, CH). The main IASF responsabilities are the subsystem for
the
data preprocessing and the software for the automatic detection and
localization of GRBs in real time (IBAS).
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