A New Instrument Concept for Gamma Ray Astronomy

A new instrument concept that utilizes the principle of the Total Absorption Shower Cascade (TASC) detector is proposed for gamma ray astronomy in space. Using the TASC detector to measure the gamma ray energy and wire chamber arrays to measure the incident angle, an instrument package designed to measure gamma rays having energies greater than 100 MeV is being proposed for a large satellite such as NASA's proposed High Energy Astronomy Observatory. The proposed instrument has a minimal flux sensitivity of 2 × 10-10 photons/cm2 sr sec which will allow gamma rays with energies up to 104 GeV to be measured. An energy resolution (FWHM) for the TASC detector of ~l percent at 10 GeV has been measured and an angular resolution of ~1 degree appears to be obtainable for the wire chamber arrays.