Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) on ASTROSAT - A status report

Abstract

The scanning sky monitor (SSM) on the ASTROSAT is an instrument to be used for detecting and locating new x-ray transients and to study the long term behavior of the known bright x-ray sources in the celestial sphere. The SSM is very similar in design to the ASM on RXTE. The first phase of the hardware development for this experiment is to design, fabricate and test an engineering model. This paper describes the principle of operation and the design specifications of the SSM and highlights the current status of the testing of the detector.