0000000000256116
AUTHOR
J. C. Ives
The X-ray gas scintillation spectrometer experiment on the first spacelab flight
The First Spacelab mission, launched on Space ShuttleFlight STS-9 in November 1983 carried a multidisciplinary payload which was intended to demonstrate that valuable scientific results can be achieved from such short duration missions. The payload complement included a spectrometer to undertake observations of the brighter cosmic X-ray sources. The primary scientific objectives of this experiment were the study of detailed spectral features in cosmic X-ray sources and their associated temporal variations over a wide energy range from about 2 up to 30 keV. The instrument based on the gas scintillation proportional counter had an effective area of some 180 cm2 with an energy resolution of ∼9…
The Gas Scintillation Proportional Counter on EXOSAT
The inclusion of a gas scintillation proportional counter (GSPC) within the EXOSAT payload complement significantly improves the spectroscopic capability of the mission. This broad-band medium energy spectrometer used in conjunction with the large area proportioni counter array (ME) should provide additional spectroscopic details on strong X-ray sources at photon energies above ~ 2 keV. The novel type of detector has an energy resolution at least a factor of two better than the ME experiment over a similar bandwidth (2 – 40 keV).