TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents: Mission Overview Timeline Scientific Objectives Spacecraft Launch Vehicle Equipment Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array NuSTAR

MISSION OVERVIEW Artist's concept of NuSTAR on orbit. The NuSTAR mission will deploy the first focusing telescopes to image the sky in the high energy X-ray ( ken) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. NuSTAR will search for black holes, map supernova explosions, and study the most extreme active galaxies. v

TIMELINE March 14, 2012 – NuStar launches. Mission length – 2 years. Orbit Height – 550 Kilometers. NuSTAR will launch into a low-Earth orbit, on a Pegasus XL rocket Back to Table of Contents

SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES v v v v During a two-year primary mission phase, NuSTAR will map selected regions of the sky in order to: 1.take a census of collapsed stars and black holes of different sizes by surveying regions surrounding the center of our Milky Way Galaxy and performing deep observations of the extragalactic sky; 2.map recently-synthesized material in young supernova remnants to understand how stars explode and how elements are created; and 3.understand what powers relativistic jets of particles from the most extreme active galaxies hosting supermassive black holes.

v v v v SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES NuSTAR will also study the origin of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars while responding to targets of opportunity including supernovae and gamma-ray bursts. NuSTAR will perform follow-up observations to discoveries made by Chandra and Spitzer and will team with GLAST, making simultaneous observations which will greatly enhancing GLAST's science return. Back to Table of Contents

SPACECRAFT The NuSTAR instrument consists of two co-aligned grazing incidence telescopes with specially coated optics and Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe) detectors that extend sensitivity to higher energies as compared to previous missions such as Chandra and XMM. grazing incidence

SPACECRAFT Back to Table of Contents After launching into orbit, the NuSTAR telescope extends to achieve a 10-meter focal length. The observatory will provide a combination of sensitivity, spatial, and spectral resolution factors of 10 to 100 improved over previous missions that have operated at these X-ray energies.

Launch Vehicle NuSTAR will launch into a low-Earth, near-equatorial orbit on a Pegasus XL rocket from the Kwajalein Atoll. The Pegasus launch vehicle, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, relies on a unique air-launch system with Back to Table of Contents the rocket released at approximately 40,000 feet from the "Stargazer" L-1011 aircraft. The rocket then free-falls in a horizontal position for five seconds before igniting its three- stage rocket motor.

Launch Vehicle The Pegasus launch from Kwajalein will position NuSTAR in a low-Earth equatorial orbit at an altitude of approximately 550 km and an inclination of 6 degrees. Back to Table of Contents

EQUIPMENT INDEX Optics Deployable Mast Focal Plane/Detectors Back to Table of Contents

Optics NuSTAR employs two grazing incidence focusing optics each of which consists of 133 concentric shells. Using epoxy and graphite spacers, the layers are built up, approximately one layer per day. Each unit is 47.2 cm (18.6 inches) long, 19.1 (7.5 inches) cm in diameter and weighs 31 kg (69 pounds). The first NuSTAR optics module (“FM0”) completed on August 5, 2010.

Deployable Mast Back to Equipment Index Essential to the NuSTAR design is a deployable mast which extends to 10 meters (30 feet) after launch. This mast will separate the NuSTAR X-ray optics from the detectors, a necessity to achieve the long focal length required by the optics design.

Deployable Mast Back to Equipment Index In order to assure that the NuSTAR optics are well-aligned with the detectors, an adjustment mechanism will be deployed on the mast. This mechanism will be used once at the beginning of the mission to align the telescope. In order to measure deflections of the mast, NuSTAR uses a laser metrology system consisting of two lasers on the optics end that are pointed at three light-sensing detectors at the detector end of the telescope. Measurements from the laser metrology system will be used to correct the X-ray images, which would otherwise be blurred by the motion of the mast.

Focal Plane/Detectors Back to Equipment Index NuSTAR has two detector units, each at the focus of one of the two co-aligned NuSTAR optics units. The optical units observe the same area of sky, and the two images are combined on the ground. The focal planes are each comprised of four 32×32 pixel Cadmium- Zinc-Tellurium (CdZnTe, or CZT) detectors.

NuSTAR (CalTech) NuSTAR (NASA) Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (Wikidepida) LINKS Back to Table of Contents