@Article{BragaDAPRSMSF:2015:PrHaXr,
               author = "Braga, Jo{\~a}o and D'Amico, Fl{\'a}vio and Avila, Manuel 
                         Antonio Castro and Penacchioni, Ana Virg{\'{\i}}nia and Reyes, 
                         Jos{\'e} Rodrigo Sacahui and Santiago J{\'u}nior, Valdivino 
                         Alexandre de and Mattiello-Francisco, Maria de F{\'a}tima and 
                         Strauss, Cesar and Fialho, M{\'a}rcio Afonso Arimura",
          affiliation = "{Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Instituto 
                         Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Instituto Nacional de 
                         Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas 
                         Espaciais (INPE)} and {Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais 
                         (INPE)} and {Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and 
                         {Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Instituto 
                         Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Instituto Nacional de 
                         Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)}",
                title = "The protoMIRAX hard X-ray imaging balloon experiment",
              journal = "Astronomy \& Astrophysics",
                 year = "2015",
               volume = "A108",
             keywords = "stars: black holes – balloons – instrumentation: detectors – 
                         methods: laboratory: solid state – telescopes – space vehicles: 
                         instruments.",
             abstract = "Context. The protoMIRAX hard X-ray imaging telescope is a 
                         balloon-borne experiment developed as a pathfinder for the MIRAX 
                         satellite mission. The experiment consists essentially in a 
                         coded-aperture hard X-ray (30200 keV) imager with a square array 
                         (13 × 13) of 2 mm-thick planar CZT detectors with a total area of 
                         169 cm2 . The total, fully-coded field-of-view is 21\◦ × 
                         21\◦ and the angular resolution is 1\◦430 . Aims. 
                         The main objective of protoMIRAX is to carry out imaging 
                         spectroscopy of selected bright sources to demonstrate the 
                         performance of a prototype of the MIRAX hard X-ray imager. In this 
                         paper we describe the protoMIRAX instrument and all the subsystems 
                         of its balloon gondola, and we show simulated results of the 
                         instrument performance. Methods. Detailed background and imaging 
                         simulations were performed for protoMIRAX balloon flights. The 
                         3\σ sensitivity for the 30200 keV range is \∼1.9 × 
                         10\−5 photons cm\−2 s \−1 for an integration 
                         time of 8 h at an atmospheric depth of 2.7 g cm\−2 and an 
                         average zenith angle of 30\◦ . We developed an 
                         attitude-control system for the balloon gondola and new data 
                         handling and ground systems that also include prototypes for the 
                         MIRAX satellite. Results. We present the results of Monte Carlo 
                         simulations of the camera response at balloon altitudes, showing 
                         the expected background level and the detailed sensitivity of 
                         protoMIRAX. We also present the results of imaging simulations of 
                         the Crab region. Conclusions. The results show that protoMIRAX is 
                         capable of making spectral and imaging observations of bright hard 
                         X-ray source fields. Furthermore, the balloon observations will 
                         carry out very important tests and demonstrations of MIRAX 
                         hardware and software in a near space environment.",
                  doi = "10.1051/0004-6361/201526343",
                  url = "http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201526343",
                 issn = "0004-6361 and 1432-0746",
             language = "en",
           targetfile = "braga_the protomirax.pdf",
        urlaccessdate = "27 abr. 2024"
}