A germanium detector array ruggedised for launch in a coded mask space telescope

The use of germanium detectors for gamma-ray astronomy from space has so far been restricted to single detectors providing no spatial information. We describe here the development of an array detector with up to sixteen independent germanium elements, which has been designed to withstand the environment associated with a rocket launch. It is shown that germanium elements in the assembly exhibit no significant degradation in performance when subjected to the appropriate vibration levels.