HIGH ENERGY MONITORING INSTRUMENT FOR GAMMA-RAY BURST STUDIES

Students of the Student Space Programs Laboratory at The Pennsylvania State University are developing the High Energy Monitoring Instrument (HEMI) to investigate the high energy spectrum of gamma-ray bursts. HEMI is a “student collaboration” instrument included as part of the Joint Astrophysics Nascent Universe Satellite (JANUS) mission proposed to NASA’s Small Explorer (SMEX) program. Student development of HEMI through all aspects and phases of the mission facilitates the training of the next generation of NASA engineers and scientists. The inherent simplicity of HEMI coupled with the instrument’s science contribution allows the student team to be a self-driven and integral part on JANUS. HEMI will allow for the measurement of the peak energy, enabling the calculation of the total energy output of the burst. Also, measurement of these values will enable tests of several proposed luminosity indicators for GRBs. HEMI is using high altitude balloons as a technologydevelopment path to prepare for the JANUS mission. We are proposing to fly HEMI on a long duration, high altitude balloon from NASA’s Antarctic balloon facility well in advance of integration with JANUS. This balloon flight will serve as a platform to test the capabilities of HEMI prior to integration into JANUS. This balloon flight will build upon HEMI’s heritage gained through a short duration, high altitude balloon (NASA’s High Altitude Student Platform), which was launched in September 2008.