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arXiv · 2106.12446

INTEGRAL reloaded: spacecraft, instruments and ground system

Erik Kuulkers·Carlo Ferrigno·Peter Kretschmar·Julia Alfonso-Garzon·Marius Baab·Angela Bazzano·Guillaume Belanger·Ian Benson·Anthony J. Bird·Enrico Bozzo·Soren Brandt·Elliott Coe·Isabel Caballero·Floriane Cangemi·Jerome Chenevez·Bradley Cenko·Nebil Cinar·Alexis Coleiro·Stefano De Padova·Roland Diehl·Claudia Dietze·Albert Domingo·Mark Drapes·Eleonora D'uva·Matthias Ehle·Jacobo Ebrero·Mithrajith Edirimanne·Natan A. Eismont·Timothy Finn·Mariateresa Fiocchi·Elena Garcia Tomas·Gianluca Gaudenzi·Thomas Godard·Andrea Goldwurm·Diego Gotz·Christian Gouiffes·Sergei A. Grebenev·Jochen Greiner·Aleksandra Gros·Lorraine Hanlon·Wim Hermsen·Cristina Hernandez·Margarita Hernanz·Jutta Huebner·Elisabeth Jourdain·Giovanni La Rosa·Claudio Labanti·Philippe Laurent·Alexander Lehanka·Niels Lund·James Madison·Julien Malzac·Jim Martin·J. Miguel Mas-Hesse·Brian McBreen·Alastair McDonald·Julie McEnery·Sandro Mereghetti·Lorenzo Natalucci·Jan-Uwe Ness·Carol Anne Oxborrow·John Palmer·Sibylle Peschke·Francesco Petrucciani·Norbert Pfeil·Michael Reichenbaecher·James Rodi·Jerome Rodriguez·Jean-Pierre Roques·Emilio Salazar Donate·Dave Salt·Celia Sanchez-Fernandez·Aymeric Sauvageon·Volodymyr Savchenko·Sergey Yu. Sazonov·Stefano Scaglioni·Norbert Schartel·Thomas Siegert·Richard Southworth·Rashid A. Sunyaev·Liviu Toma·Pietro Ubertini·Ed P. J. van den Heuvel·Andreas von Kienlin·Nikolai von Krusenstiern·Christoph Winkler·Hajdas Wojciech·Ugo Zannoni
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Abstract

ESA's INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) was launched on 17 Oct 2002 at 06:41 CEST. Since then, it has been providing long, uninterrupted observations (up to about 47 hr, or 170 ksec, per satellite orbit of 2.7 days) with a large field-of-view (fully coded: 100 deg^2), msec time resolution, keV energy resolution, polarization measurements, as well as additional coverage in the optical. This is realized by two main instruments in the 15 keV to 10 MeV range, the spectrometer SPI (spectral resolution 3 keV at 1.8 MeV) and the imager IBIS (angular resolution 12 arcmin FWHM), complemented by X-ray (JEM-X; 3-35 keV) and optical (OMC; Johnson V-band) monitors. All instruments are co-aligned to simultaneously observe the target region. A particle radiation monitor (IREM) measures charged particle fluxes near the spacecraft. The Anti-coincidence subsystems of the main instruments are also efficient all-sky gamma-ray detectors, which provide omni-directional monitoring above ~75 keV. INTEGRAL can also rapidly (within a couple of hours) re-point and conduct Target of Opportunity observations. INTEGRAL has build an impressive legacy: e.g. discovery of >600 new high-energy sources; first-ever direct detection of 56Ni and 56Co radio-active decay lines from a Type Ia supernova; new insights on positron annihilation in the Galactic bulge and disk; pioneering gamma-ray polarization studies. INTEGRAL is also a successful in multi-messenger astronomy: INTEGRAL found the first prompt electromagnetic radiation in coincidence with a binary neutron star merger. More than 1750 papers based on INTEGRAL data have been published in refereed journals. Here we give a comprehensive update of the satellite status after more than 18 years of operations in a harsh space environment, and an account of the successful Ground Segment.

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Erik Kuulkers, Carlo Ferrigno, Peter Kretschmar, Julia Alfonso-Garzon, Marius Baab, Angela Bazzano, Guillaume Belanger, Ian Benson, Anthony J. Bird, Enrico Bozzo, Soren Brandt, Elliott Coe, Isabel Caballero, Floriane Cangemi, Jerome Chenevez, Bradley Cenko, Nebil Cinar, Alexis Coleiro, Stefano De Padova, Roland Diehl, Claudia Dietze, Albert Domingo, Mark Drapes, Eleonora D'uva, Matthias Ehle, Jacobo Ebrero, Mithrajith Edirimanne, Natan A. Eismont, Timothy Finn, Mariateresa Fiocchi, Elena Garcia Tomas, Gianluca Gaudenzi, Thomas Godard, Andrea Goldwurm, Diego Gotz, Christian Gouiffes, Sergei A. Grebenev, Jochen Greiner, Aleksandra Gros, Lorraine Hanlon, Wim Hermsen, Cristina Hernandez, Margarita Hernanz, Jutta Huebner, Elisabeth Jourdain, Giovanni La Rosa, Claudio Labanti, Philippe Laurent, Alexander Lehanka, Niels Lund, James Madison, Julien Malzac, Jim Martin, J. Miguel Mas-Hesse, Brian McBreen, Alastair McDonald, Julie McEnery, Sandro Mereghetti, Lorenzo Natalucci, Jan-Uwe Ness, Carol Anne Oxborrow, John Palmer, Sibylle Peschke, Francesco Petrucciani, Norbert Pfeil, Michael Reichenbaecher, James Rodi, Jerome Rodriguez, Jean-Pierre Roques, Emilio Salazar Donate, Dave Salt, Celia Sanchez-Fernandez, Aymeric Sauvageon, Volodymyr Savchenko, Sergey Yu. Sazonov, Stefano Scaglioni, Norbert Schartel, Thomas Siegert, Richard Southworth, Rashid A. Sunyaev, Liviu Toma, Pietro Ubertini, Ed P. J. van den Heuvel, Andreas von Kienlin, Nikolai von Krusenstiern, Christoph Winkler, Hajdas Wojciech, Ugo Zannoni. 2021-06-23. INTEGRAL reloaded: spacecraft, instruments and ground system. https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.12446

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