Daksha

Find out more about Daksha on its main website - dakshasat.in

Daksha is a proposed space mission for detecting high-energy counterparts to gravitational wave sources. Daksha will be an order of magnitude more sensitive than any existing mission.

Daksha posters for ASI 2022 can be viewed here.

Daksha will cover the energy range from 1 keV to > 1 MeV, reaching sensitivity higher than the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. Two satellites orbiting on opposite sides of Earth will ensure continuous coverage of the entire sky. On-board algorithms will detect transients and broadcast the information in under a minute.

Key science goals

  • Detect, localise and characterise counterparts to gravitational wave sources

  • High sensitivity detection and studies of Gamma Ray bursts

Daksha at a glance

  • Energy range: 1 keV to > 1 MeV

  • Effective area (2 satellites): ~1700 cm2, 100 keV

  • Sky coverage:

    • Single satellite instantaneous: ~70%

    • Single satellite orbit-averaged: > 55%

    • Two satellites orbit-averaged: > 85%

  • Source localisation: better than 10°

  • Sensitivity: Better than 3 x 10^-8 ergs/cm2/sec (20-200 keV)

  • Detectors used:

    • Silicon Drift Detectors (SDD)

    • Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT)

    • Scintillators (NaI + SiPM)