Preparing the next iteration of the Gamma-Ray Imager/Polarimeter for Solar flares (GRIPS)

We request funding to further the maturation of the NASA Gamma-Ray Imager/Polarimeter for Solar flares (GRIPS) concept. GRIPS consists of a spectrometer cryostat equipped with position-sensitive germanium detectors (3D-GeD), and a thick tungsten grid mounted on an eight-meter boom, the Multi-Pitch Rotating Modulator (MPRM). GRIPS's nominal energy range is 30 keV to 10 MeV, imaging down to 12.5" with a 1 degree field-of-view. Though its single monogrid and position-sensitive detector approach is novel, the GRIPS imaging concept borrows heavily from the successful NASA Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) satellite. GRIPS's goal is to do imaging spectroscopy of solar flare gamma-ray lines, investigating such questions as "how can accelerated electron-produced and accelerated ion-produced emissions be 20'000 km apart on the Sun?", "are flare electrons accelerated isotropically?"; "how can gamma-ray sources high in the corona be so long-lived?". These questions fall in line with the NASA Heliophysics Research Program's stated goals to "Determine the origins of the Sun's activity and predict the variations in the space environment", and "Discover and characterize fundamental processes that occur both within the heliosphere and throughout the universe." As a high altitude balloon payload, GRIPS recently successfully completed its maiden flight from Antarctica. During the flight, two major electron precipitation events, each lasting several hours, were recorded in the 3D-GeD and in the BGO anti-coincidence shields. However, only small to medium solar flares occurred during the flight, and none produced enough counts to be imaged by GRIPS. At the end of the flight, all data vaults were promptly recovered, but the rest of the payload had to spend the Antarctic winter on the ice. In order to finalize the validation of the GRIPS concept, and in preparation for its next iteration and a future spacecraft version, we seek funding to: 1) refurbish the recently returned from Antarctica GRIPS equipment; 2) evaluate the possibility of replacing the current GRIPS GeD ASICs by newer ones recently developed by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL); 3) complete the validation of GRIPS's X-ray imaging capabilities by exposing the grid and detector assembly to radioactive sources, for both sets of ASICs. This effort will enable us to finalize the maturation of the GRIPS concept, in time for the next solar maximum.

Support NASA's Heliophysics strategic science objectives to understand the Sun and its interactions with Earth and the solar system, including space weather. This will be achieved by developing/demonstrating instrumentation technology necessary to address the following science goals: Explore the physical processes in the space environment from the Sun to the Earth and throughout the solar system; Advance our understanding of the connections that link the Sun, the Earth, planetary space environments, and the outer reaches of our solar system; Develop the knowledge and capability to detect and predict extreme conditions in space to protect life and society and to safeguard human and robotic explorers beyond Earth.

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