AGILE (satellite)

AGILE (Astro‐rivelatore Gamma a Immagini LEggero) is an X-ray and Gamma ray astronomical satellite of the Italian Space Agency (ASI). AGILE mission is aimed to the observation of the Gamma-Ray sources in the universe. The AGILE’s instrumentation combines a gamma-ray imager (GRID) (sensitive in the energy range 30 MeV-50 GeV), a hard X-ray imager and monitor: Super- AGILE (sensitive in the range 18-60 KeV), a calorimeter (sensitive in the range 350 KeV-100 MeV) (MCAL), and an anticoincidence system (AC), based on plastic scintillator.

AGILE was successfully launched on 2007, April 23 from the Indian base of Sriharikota and was inserted in an equatorial orbit with low particle background. SuperAGILE (SA) is an imaging instrument based on a set of four independent silicon strip detectors, equipped with one-dimensional coded mask, SA is designed to detect X-Ray signals from known sources and also burst like signals providing long-term monitoring in terms of flux and spectral features. Also MCAL can effectively detect high-energy radiation bursts in its energy band. Some of the AGILE detected transient events are associated to positions not consistent with a known source in the sky (Gamma Ray Burst -GRB-) and they have a cosmological origin, others are due to Solar Flares and some of them to Earth Atmosphere events (Terrestrial Gamma Flash -TGF-).

First contact

on 2007-04-23, ASI has made contact with AGILE: signals from it have been acquired by the ground station at the Broglio Space Centre near Malindi, Kenya and it has been placed in a sun-pointing mode.

References

• "AGILE - Gamma Ray Light Detector - Astrorivelatore Gamma ad Immagini LEggero". Carlo Gavazzi Space. http://www.cgspace.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=143&Itemid=66. 

• "AGILE Launch Campaign". iasf-bo. http://www.iasfbo.inaf.it/agile/.