THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE SUITABILITY OF ARTIFICIAL SINGLE-CRYSTAL DIAMOND DETECTORS (SCDDS) FOR USE AS THE SCATTERING MEDIUM IN COMPTON TELESCOPES FOR MEDIUM-ENERGY GAMMA-RAY ASTRONOMY. SCDDS OFFER THE POSSIBILITY OF POSITION AND ENERGY RESOLUTION COMPARABLE TO THOSE OF SILICON SOLID-STATE DETECTORS (SSDS) COMBINED WITH EFFICIENCY AND TIMING RESOLUTION SO-FAR ONLY ACHIEVABLE USING FAST SCINTILLATORS. WHEN INTEGRATED WITH A CALORIMETER COMPOSED OF FAST INORGANIC SCINTILLATOR SUCH AS CEBR3 READ OUT BY SILICON PHOTOMULTIPLIERS (SIPMS) SCDDS WILL ENABLE A COMPACT AND EFFICIENT COMPTON TELESCOPE USING TIME-OF-FLIGHT (TOF) DISCRIMINATION TO ACHIEVE LOW BACKGROUND AND HIGH SENSITIVITY. THIS DETECTOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECT WILL BE A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE (UNH) AND SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE (SWRI). THE PROPOSED WORK REPRESENTS AN INNOVATIVE COMBINATION OF DETECTOR TECHNOLOGIES ORIGINALLY CONCEIVED SEPARATELY FOR HIGH-ENERGY ASTRONOMY (FAST SCINTILLATORS READ OUT BY SIPMS; UNH) AND SPACE PLASMA/PARTICLE PHYSICS (SCDDS; SWRI). RECENTLY SWRI HAS DEMONSTRATED THAT SCDDS FABRICATED USING CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (CVD) SHOW GOOD ENERGY RESOLUTION (~7 KEV FWHM) COMPARABLE TO SILICON SSDS WITH MUCH FASTER TIME RESPONSE (~NS RISE TIME) DUE TO HIGHER ELECTRON/HOLE MOBILITIES. THEY ARE ALSO TEMPERATURE- AND LIGHT-INSENSITIVE AND RADIATION HARD. IN ADDITION DIAMOND IS LOW-Z COMPOSED ENTIRELY OF CARBON BUT RELATIVELY HIGH-DENSITY (3.5 G CM-3) COMPARED TO SILICON OR ORGANIC SCINTILLATOR. SCDDS ARE THEREFORE AN INTRIGUING POSSIBILITY FOR A NEW COMPTON SCATTERING ELEMENT: IF PATTERNED WITH ~MM-SIZED READOUT ELECTRODES AND COMBINED WITH A FAST INORGANIC SCINTILLATOR CALORIMETER SCDDS COULD ENABLE A COMPACT BUT EFFICIENT COMPTON TELESCOPE WITH SUPERIOR ANGULAR AND ENERGY RESOLUTION WHILE MAINTAINING TOF BACKGROUND REJECTION. SUCH AN INSTRUMENT OFFERS THE EXCITING POTENTIAL FOR UNPRECEDENTED SENSITIVITY ESPECIALLY AT ENERGIES<1 - 2 MEV ON A SMALL-SCALE MISSION UTILIZING RECENTLY AVAILABLE SMALLSAT BUSES (PAYLOAD MASS<100 KG). WE PROPOSE TO DEMONSTRATE THIS BY CONSTRUCTING AND TESTING A SMALL PROOF-OF-CONCEPT PROTOTYPE AND BASED ON ITS PERFORMANCE USING MONTE CARLO SIMULATIONS TO EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES OF FURTHERING MEV SCIENCE USING RELATIVELY SMALL-SCALE SPACE MISSIONS.