The SUGAR experiment, technical description and performances

An experiment to verify the performances of BGO/CsI phoswich detectors, in the domain of gamma-ray astronomy, was converted into a small-size experiment to detect X-gamma emission from the SN1987A. We shortly describe the experiment, the flight performed in 1987, October 10, and the background counting rate. The comparison of this last with that experienced by other experiments suggests that this kind of detectors can be useful in the future, in the field of gamma-ray astronomy.