WIDE APERTURE, HIGH ANGULAR AND ENERGY RESOLUTION IMAGING GAMMA RAY DETECTOR

A NOVEL WIDE APERTURE HIGH ANGULAR AND ENERGY RESOLUTION IMAGING DETECTOR FOR 0.3 TO 30 MEV GAMMA RAYS HAS GOOD POTENTIAL FOR SPACE-BASED BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM. IT CAN ALSO DETECT OTHER SPACE-BORNE OBJECTS OR SATELLITES WHICH CARRY RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL SUCH AS SATELLITES WITH NUCLEAR POWER SOURCES. THIS DETECTOR WILL HAVE A HIGH ANGULAR RESOLUTION OF ABOUT 1 DEGREE AND SOURCE DIRECTION MEASUREMENT BETTER THAN +0.1 DEGREE. SUCH DETECTORS WITH WIDE APERTURE ARE NOT YET AVAILABLE. THE HIGH ANGULAR RESOLUTION AND WIDE APERTURE (APPROX. 120 DEGREES) WILL ENABLE EXCELLENT IMAGING OF SPACE OBJECTS IN REAL TIME. GOOD ENERGY RESOLUTION OF ABOUT 5% AT 1 MEV WILL ENABLE GOOD ENERGY SPECTRUM DETERMINATION FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE RADIOACTIVE CONTENTS OF THE SPACE OBJECTS OR NATURE OF THE EVENTS. HIGH SENSITIVITY WILL ENABLE THE DETECTION OF VERY WEAK SOURCES, OR DISTANT OBJECTS. THE DETECTOR CAN BE EASILY SCALED UP OR DOWN IN SIZE TO ADJUST ITS SENSITIVITY TO MATCH THE SOURCE STRENGTH. IT WILL HAVE ON-BOARD REAL TIME DATA ANALYSIS AND IMAGING HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE FOR INSTANTANEOUS DETECTION AND REPORTING OF SPACE OBJECTS CARRYING NUCLEAR WEAPONS. PRELIMINARY MONTE CARLO CALCULATIONS SHOW HIGH SENSITIVITY AND EXCELLENT ANGULAR AND ENERGY RESOLUTIONS FOR 0.3 TO 30 MEV GAMMA RAYS.