Space Sciences/Astrophysics Seminar with Regina Caputo on Developments in Gamma-Ray Instrumentation and Telescopes

The New Messengers and New Physics and Cosmic Ecosystem priority themes from the Astro2020 Decadal Survey are uniquely addressed at gamma-ray energies. The gamma-ray group at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, as part of a large effort together with ANL and many groups around the world, is developing technologies and future telescopes to enable observations to fill these critical capability gaps revealed by Fermi and fully capitalize on this exciting new era. This talk will present the development of CMOS silicon pixel detectors, called AstroPix, and their planned launch on a sounding rocket; the recent balloon launch of the ComPair gamma-ray prototype telescope; the next steps for ComPair; and community efforts to prioritize gamma-ray missions such as AMEGO-X in the future.

Sponsored by the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences.