The testing must go on!
Individually, CuPID’s structure and electrical components have been tested, but now integrated, we are requiring CuPID to go through many more tests to fully confident that CuPID will work as designed once in orbit. From just confirming functionality of all sub-systems to calibrating the instruments, CuPID has been spending a lot of time running.
Earlier this year, CuPID was at GSFC undergoing some X-ray calibration tests. A 2.5 meter long beam line was set up to calibrate the point spread function of the optic and detector.
CuPID’s beam line experiment at GSFC.
Then, just before the Covid-19 stay at home orders, CuPID was ‘evacuated’ out of the GSFC lab before a shutdown could have locked CuPID into long-term storage. CuPID and its drivers made a safe one day trip to the BU lab.
Under lab access restrictions, the BU team is allowed to continue to work on CuPID. CuPID is undergoing tests to calibrate the X-ray detector to a known image. These tests involve generating a known image, or mask to cover the Micro-Channel Plate (MCP) detector and processing the data to determine response and conversions from instrument results to physical measurements.
CuPID in the clean tent receiving the mask and source to generate known image on detector.
CuPID and the team working on it are safe and healthy during this unstable time.
