NinjaSat on covert science mission to observe black holes, neutron stars

Author: EIS Release Date: Aug 16, 2023

Japan’s research institution RIKEN, Mitsui Bussan Aerospace and Vilnius-based NanoAvionics are collaborating on the astronomical NinjaSat X-ray observatory mission.

 

NinjaSat on covert science mission to observe black holes, neutron stars

 

The aim of the two-year mission is to observe X-ray photons from persistently bright X-ray objects in the universe.

 

The organisations have announced that the NinjaSat team aims to observe black holes and neutron stars that suddenly brighten in X-rays. Also, coordinating with on-ground optical observatories, the mission will study how matter accretes to these compact objects. It will, they say, “covertly targeting critical scientific results” as a “ninja”.

 

 

NinjaSat Cubesat

The NinjaSat is a 6U-size cubesat, heading to a low Earth orbit (LEO), with two deployable solar panels. It has two identical Gas Multiplier Counters (GMCs) attached to each end, two Radiation Belt Monitors (RBMs) for safety monitoring of background particle environments, and one star tracker at the centre of this side. The main science payload is the two GMCs to measure individual radiation events. Recorded payload data will be downloaded to the ground via S-Band.

 

 

RIKEN highlighted that NinjaSat will allow high cadence monitoring and flexible operations for transient sources, which is of great value in time-domain astronomy.

 

“Small but flexible cubesats, such as NinjaSat, attempt to observe the X-ray sky in ways that are difficult to achieve with large observatories”, said Toru Tamagawa, Chief Scientist at RIKEN. “RIKEN and collaborators are now operating the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) instrument aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and have discovered many new black holes in our Galaxy that suddenly brighten in X-rays.”

 

One example target of the mission is Scorpius X-1, described as one of the brightest X-ray objects hosting a fast-spinning neutron star and a candidate for coherent gravitational waves – an important net target of gravitational astronomy, says RIKEN.