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By NASA
4 min read
Repair Kit for NASA’s NICER Mission Heading to Space Station
NASA will deliver a patch kit for NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer), an X-ray telescope on the International Space Station, on the agency’s Northrop Grumman 21st commercial resupply mission. Astronauts will conduct a spacewalk to complete the repair.
Located near the space station’s starboard solar array, NICER was damaged in May 2023. The mission team delivered the patch kit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston in May 2024 so it could be prepped and packed for the upcoming resupply mission.
“It’s incredible that in just one year, we were able to diagnose the problem and then design, build, test, and deliver a solution,” said Steve Kenyon, NICER’s mechanical lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We’re so excited to see the patches installed during a future spacewalk, return to a more regular operating schedule, and keep doing groundbreaking science.”
This image, obtained June 8, 2018, shows NASA’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) on the International Space Station, where it studies neutron stars and other X-ray sources. NICER is about the size of a washing machine. The sunshades of its X-ray concentrators are visible as an array of circular features. NASA UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi captured this view of NICER from a window in the Poisk Mini-Research Module 2 on the space station in July 2023. Photos like this one helped the mission team map the damage to the thermal shields over NICER’s X-ray concentrators. NASA/Sultan Alneyadi Some of NICER’s damaged thermal shields (circled) are visible in this photograph. NASA/Sultan Alneyadi
From its perch on the station, the washing machine-sized NICER studies the X-ray sky. It has precisely measured superdense stellar remnants called neutron stars, which contain the densest matter scientists can directly observe. It has also investigated mysterious fast radio bursts, observed comets in our solar system, and collected data about Earth’s upper atmosphere.
But in May 2023, NICER developed a “light leak,” where unwanted sunlight began entering the telescope.
Photos taken aboard the station revealed several areas of damage to NICER’s thermal shields. The shields are 500 times thinner than a human hair and filter out infrared, ultraviolet, and visible light while allowing X-rays to pass through. They cover each of NICER’s 56 X-ray concentrators, sets of 24 nested circular mirrors designed to skip X-rays into corresponding detectors. A sunshade tops each concentrator and shield assembly, with a slight gap in between. The sunshades are segmented by six internal struts, resembling a sliced pie.
The largest damage to the shields is around the size of a typical U.S. postage stamp. The other areas are closer in size to pinheads. During the station’s daytime, the damage allows sunlight to reach the detectors, saturating sensors and interfering with NICER’s measurements. The mission team altered their daytime observing strategy to mitigate the effect. The damage does not impact nighttime observations.
“NICER wasn’t designed to be serviced or repaired,” said Keith Gendreau, the mission’s principal investigator at Goddard. “It was installed robotically, and we operate it remotely. When we decided to investigate the possibility of patching the largest damaged areas on the thermal shields, we had to come up with a method that would use the existing parts of the telescope and station toolkits. We couldn’t have done it without all the support and collaboration from our colleagues at Johnson and throughout the space station program.”
NICER’s patches are made from aluminum and anodized, or coated, black. Each is about 2 inches tall. “LCK” indicates the lock position for a tab at the bottom that will hold the patch in place. NASA is sending 12 of these patches to the International Space Station. During a spacewalk, astronauts will insert five into sunshades on the telescope to cover the most significant areas of damage. NASA/Sophia Roberts NICER’s patches will be inserted into its sunshades, as shown here. The small tab that locks the patch into place is visible beneath it. The carbon composite sunshades cover each of NICER’s 56 X-ray concentrators. Each sunshade is supported by three gold-colored fiberglass mounting feet. NASA/Sophia Roberts NICER’s thermal shields — the silver film shown here — cover each of the mission’s 56 X-ray concentrators. They block ultraviolet, infrared, and visible light while allowing X-rays to pass through to the mirrors underneath. Each shield is only about 160 nanometers thick, or 500 times thinner than a human hair. The fragile shield is supported by a stainless-steel frame which consists of a pattern of 1/8 inch (3 millimeter) squares in each of the wedges. NASA/Sophia Roberts NICER has 56 individual X-ray focusing elements, called concentrators, that each contain 24 nested mirrors. Every concentrator delivers X-rays to its own detector. The concentrator shown here is tilted on its side, so the camera is looking into the nested mirrors. X-rays are high-energy light, so they can pass through the atoms of telescope mirrors like those for NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. Instead, X-ray observatories use grazing incidence mirrors, where the surfaces are turned on their sides. X-rays skip across their surfaces and into detectors. NASA/Sophia Roberts
The solution, in the end, was simple. The team designed patches, each shaped like a piece of pie, that will slide into the sunshades. A tab at the bottom of each patch will turn into the space between the bottom of the sunshade and the top of the thermal shield, keeping it in place.
Astronauts will install five patches during the spacewalk. They’ll cover the most significant areas of damage and block the sunlight affecting NICER’s X-ray measurements.
The repair kit contains 12 patches in total, allowing for spares if needed. Astronauts will carry the patches in a caddy, a rectangular frame containing two spare sunshades with the patches held inside.
“NICER will be the first X-ray telescope in orbit to be serviced by astronauts and only the fourth science observatory to be repaired overall — joining the ranks of missions like NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope,” said Charles Baker, the NICER project systems engineer at Goddard. “It’s been amazing to watch the patch kit come together over the last year. NICER has taught us so many wonderful things about the cosmos, and we’re really looking forward to this next step of its journey.”
The NICER caddy is an aluminum box containing two of the mission’s spare sunshades, which are attached to the bottom. Inside the sunshades, 12 patches are locked into place. Astronauts will take the complete caddy assembly with them during a future spacewalk to address damage to NICER’s thermal shields. They’ll insert five of the patches over the largest areas of damage, which will allow the mission to return to a normal operating status during the station’s daytime. The NICER telescope is an Astrophysics Mission of Opportunity within NASA’s Explorers Program, which provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class scientific investigations from space utilizing innovative, streamlined, and efficient management approaches within the heliophysics and astrophysics science areas. NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate supported the SEXTANT component of the mission, demonstrating pulsar-based spacecraft navigation.
Download high-resolution NICER images and videos
By Jeanette Kazmierczak
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
301-286-1940
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Jul 30, 2024 Related Terms
Astrophysics Goddard Space Flight Center International Space Station (ISS) ISS Research Johnson Space Center Neutron Stars NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) Pulsars The Universe View the full article
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By NASA
Credits: NASA NASA has selected the University of Hawaii in Honolulu to maintain and operate the agency’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea in Hilo, Hawaii.
The Management and Operations of NASA’s IRTF is a hybrid firm-fixed-price contract with an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity provision. The contract has a maximum potential value of approximately $85.5 million, with a base period of performance from Monday, July 1 to June 30, 2025. Nine optional periods, if exercised, would extend the contract through Dec. 31, 2033.
Under this contract, the University of Hawaii will provide maintenance and operation services for NASA at the telescope facility. The university will also develop and implement an operations strategy so that the facility can be used by the scientific community through peer-reviewed competition to assist NASA in achieving its goals in scientific discovery, mission support, and planetary defense.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov
-end-
Tiernan Doyle
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jun 28, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
NASA Centers & Facilities Science & Research View the full article
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rocket carrying students experiments for the RockOn! mission successfully launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility Aug. 17, 2023 at 6 a.m. EDT.NASA/ Kyle Hoppes More than 50 student and faculty teams are sending experiments into space as part of NASA’s RockOn and RockSat-C student flight programs. The annual student mission, “RockOn,” is scheduled to launch from Wallops Island, Virginia, on a Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rocket Thursday, June 20, with a launch window that opens at 5:30 a.m. EDT.
An introduction to rocketry for college students
The RockOn workshop is an introductory flight opportunity for community college and university students. RockOn participants spend a week at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, where they are guided through the process of building and launching an experiment aboard a sounding rocket.
“RockOn provides students and faculty with authentic, hands-on experiences tied to an actual launch into space from a NASA facility,” said Chris Koehler, on contract with NASA as RockOn’s principal investigator. “These experiences are instrumental in the creation of our next STEM workforce.”
RockOn student experiments are placed into canisters to be integrated into the payload.NASA/ Madison Olson Unique & advanced experiments
In addition to the RockOn workshop experiments, the rocket will carry student team experiments from six different institutions as part of the RockSat-C program. The RockSat-C experiments are unique to each institution and were created off site.
RockSat-C “has been an incredible introduction into the world of NASA and how flight missions are built from start to finish,” said TJ Tomaszewski, student lead for the University of Delaware. “The project started as just a flicker of an idea in students’ minds. After countless hours of design, redesign, and coffee, the fact that we finished an experiment capable of going to space and capable of conducting valuable scientific research makes me so proud of my team and so excited for what’s possible next. Everybody dreams about space, and the fact that we’re going to launch still doesn’t feel real.”
Students participating in the 2024 RockSat-C program were able to see the RockOn rocket in the testing facility at Wallops Flight Facility.NASA/ Berit Bland RockSat-C participants include:
Temple University, Philadelphia Experiments will utilize X-ray spectrometry, muon detection, and magnetometry to explore the interplay among cosmic phenomena, such as X-rays, cosmic muons, and Earth’s magnetic field, while also quantifying atmospheric methane levels as a function of altitude.
Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond The ION experiment aims to measure the plasma density in the ionosphere. This will be achieved by detecting the upper hybrid resonant frequency using an impedance probe mounted on the outside of the rocket and comparing the results to theoretical models. The secondary experiment, known as the ACC experiment, aims to record the rocket’s re-entry dynamics and measure acceleration in the x, y, and z directions.
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia The Monarch3D team will redesign and improve upon a pre-existing experiment from the previous year’s team that will print in suborbital space. This project uses a custom-built 3D printer made by students at Old Dominion.
University of Delaware, Newark Project UDIP-4 will measure the density and temperature of ionospheric electrons as a function of altitude and compare the quality of measurements obtained from different grounding methods. Additionally, the project focuses on developing and testing new CubeSat hardware in preparation for an orbital CubeSat mission named DAPPEr.
Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey The Atmospheric Inert Gas Retrieval project will develop a payload capable of demonstrating supersonic sample collection at predetermined altitudes and investigating the noble gas fractionation and contamination of the acquired samples. In addition, their payload will test the performance of inexpensive vibration damping materials by recording and isolating launch vibrations using 3D-printed components.
Cubes in Space, Virginia Beach, Virginia The Cubes in Space (CiS) project provides students aged 11 to 18 with a unique opportunity to conduct scientific and engineering experiments in space. CiS gives students hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of scientific and engineering principles, preparing them for more complex STEM studies and research in the future. Students develop and design their unique experiments to fit into clear, rigid plastic payload cubes, each about 1.5 inches on a side. Up to 80 of these unique student experiments are integrated into the nose cone of the rocket.
Approximately 80 small cubes will be launched as part of the RockOn sounding rocket mission.Courtesy Cubes in Space/Jorge Salazar; used with permission Watch the launch
The launch window for the mission is 5:30-9:30 a.m. EDT, Thursday June 20, with a backup day of June 21. The Wallops Visitor Center’s launch viewing area will open at 4:30 a.m. A livestream of the mission will begin 15 minutes before launch on the Wallops YouTube channel. Launch updates also are available via the Wallops Facebook page.
These circular areas show where and when people may see the rocket launch in the sky, depending on cloud cover. The different colored sections indicate the time (in seconds) after liftoff that the sounding rocket may be visible.NASA/ Christian Billie NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program is conducted at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility, which is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA’s Heliophysics Division manages the sounding rocket program for the agency.
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Last Updated Jun 14, 2024 EditorAmy BarraContactAmy Barraamy.l.barra@nasa.govLocationWallops Flight Facility Related Terms
Wallops Flight Facility For Colleges & Universities Goddard Space Flight Center Heliophysics Division Sounding Rockets Sounding Rockets Program STEM Engagement at NASA Explore More
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By NASA
“I went back to school in 2016. So I had two kids that were three and five, and I was working full time, and I was doing the master’s program, taking two classes online. It took two years to get it done, and it was like a balancing act, and my kids had to watch the sacrifice in a sense. There were times when I had to take tests, and I was like, ‘OK, you’ve got to sit in the living room with your dad, or you’ve got to go to grandma’s house because I’ve got to take this test.’
“It was tough, but I had to get it done to show my kids that anything is possible. Things don’t get handed to you. You’ve got to work for them.
“And so, I made sure that when I graduated in August of 2018, we drove to the school, which is six hours away, so they could watch me walk across the stage and see, you know, the sacrifices I made so that we could be here. And so for them, it’s like – my little one, that’s what she wants to grow up to do: work for NASA and do safety like me. It’s cool.
“To them, I think it’s impactful, so they know that if you commit yourself and put the effort and work into it, you can do whatever you put your mind to. Both of my kids watched it, and they’re both in the STEM program at their school because they have a passion for math and science and want to try to make a difference in their own capacity.”
– Thu Nguyen, Facility Systems Safety Engineer and Fall Protection Program Administrator, NASA’s Johnson Space Center
Image Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz
Interviewer: NASA/Tahira Allen
Check out some of our other Faces of NASA.
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By NASA
NASA Portrait of JSC Center Director – Vanessa Wyche. Photographer: Robert Markowitz March 4, 2024
MEDIA ADVISORY: J24-005
The director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center will discuss the objectives behind the center’s new Exploration Park initiative at the next meeting of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership’s (BAHEP) aerospace advisory committee at 12 p.m. CST Wednesday, March 6, at 1150 Gemini in Houston.
Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche will be joined by representatives from the American Center for Manufacturing and Innovation (ACMI), which recently signed the second agreement to lease acres of underutilized land in a 240-acre Exploration Park. NASA signed a separate lease with the Texas A&M University System earlier this month.
Media are invited to attend the opening discussion of BAHEP’s committee meeting, then have a brief opportunity for interviews with Wyche, John Burer, founder of ACMI and other ACMI experts.
NASA is leasing the land to create facilities for a collaborative development environment that increases commercial access and enhances the United States’ commercial competitiveness in the space and aerospace industries.
Media wishing to participate in person are asked to RSVP by 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 6, by contacting the Johnson newsroom at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov.
To learn more about NASA Johnson and Exploration Park, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/johnson-news/#news-releases
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Kelly Humphries
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
kelly.o.humphries@nasa.gov
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