Mission type | Neutron star astrophysics |
---|---|
Operator | NASA / GSFC / MIT |
Website | https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/nicer/ |
Mission duration | 18 months (planned) 6 years, 6 months and 25 days (in progress) |
Spacecraft properties | |
Launch mass | 372 kg (820 lb) [1] |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 3 June 2017, 21:07:38 UTC [2] |
Rocket | Falcon 9 Full Thrust, B1035.1 |
Launch site | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A |
Contractor | SpaceX |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Perigee altitude | 402 km (250 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 407 km (253 mi) |
Inclination | 51.64° |
Period | 92.66 minutes |
Instruments | |
X-ray Timing Instrument (XTI) | |
NICER * SEXTANT mission patch Explorer program |
The Neutron Star Interior Composition ExploreR (NICER) is a NASA telescope on the International Space Station, designed and dedicated to the study of the extraordinary gravitational, electromagnetic, and nuclear physics environments embodied by neutron stars, exploring the exotic states of matter where density and pressure are higher than in atomic nuclei. As part of NASA's Explorer program, NICER enabled rotation-resolved spectroscopy of the thermal and non-thermal emissions of neutron stars in the soft X-ray (0.2–12 keV) band with unprecedented sensitivity, probing interior structure, the origins of dynamic phenomena, and the mechanisms that underlie the most powerful cosmic particle accelerators known. [3] NICER achieved these goals by deploying, following the launch, and activation of X-ray timing and spectroscopy instruments. NICER was selected by NASA to proceed to formulation phase in April 2013. [4]
NICER-SEXTANT uses the same instrument to test X-ray timing for positioning and navigation, [5] and MXS is a test of X-ray timing communication. [6] In January 2018, X-ray navigation was demonstrated using NICER on ISS. [7]
By May 2015, NICER was on track for a 2016 launch, having passed its critical design review (CDR) and resolved an issue with the power being supplied by the ISS. [8] Following the loss of SpaceX CRS-7 in June 2015, which delayed future missions by several months, NICER was finally launched on 3 June 2017, [2] with the SpaceX CRS-11 ISS resupply mission aboard a Falcon 9 v1.2 launch vehicle. [9]
NICER's primary science instrument, called the X-ray Timing Instrument (XTI), is an array of 56 X-ray photon detectors. These detectors record the energies of the collected photons as well as with their time of arrival. A Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver enables accurate timing and positioning measurements. X-ray photons can be time-tagged with a precision of less than 300 ns. [10] In August 2022 a fast X-ray follow-up observation program was started with the MAXI instrument named "OHMAN (On-orbit Hookup of MAXI and NICER)" to detect sudden bursts in X-ray phenomena. [11]
During each ISS orbit, NICER will observe two to four targets. Gimbaling and a star tracker allow NICER to track specific targets while collecting science data. In order to achieve its science objectives, NICER will take over 15 million seconds of exposures over an 18-month period. [12]
An enhancement to the NICER mission, the Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT), will act as a technology demonstrator for X-ray pulsar-based navigation (XNAV) techniques that may one day be used for deep-space navigation. [13]
This section needs to be updated.(February 2020) |
As part of NICER testing, a rapid-modulation X-ray device was developed called Modulated X-ray Source (MXS), which is being used to create an X-ray communication system (XCOM) demonstration. If approved and installed on the ISS, XCOM will transmit data encoded into X-ray bursts to the NICER platform, which may lead to the development of technologies that allow for gigabit bandwidth communication throughout the Solar System. [6] As of February 2019 [update] the XCOM test is scheduled for spring 2019. [14] XCOM (inc MXS) was delivered to the ISS in May 2019. [15] Once the test was complete XCOM and the STP-H6 payload malfunctioned in September 2021. It was removed in November 2021 and disposed of on Cygnus NG-16. [16]
In May 2018, NICER discovered an X-ray pulsar in the fastest stellar orbit yet discovered. [17] The pulsar and its companion star were found to orbit each other every 38 minutes. [17]
On 21 August 2019 (UTC; 20 August in the U.S.), NICER spotted the brightest X-ray burst so far observed. [18] It came from the neutron star SAX J1808.4−3658 about 11,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), previously known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), is a Flagship-class space telescope launched aboard the Space ShuttleColumbia during STS-93 by NASA on July 23, 1999. Chandra was sensitive to X-ray sources 100 times fainter than any previous X-ray telescope, enabled by the high angular resolution of its mirrors. Since the Earth's atmosphere absorbs the vast majority of X-rays, they are not detectable from Earth-based telescopes; therefore space-based telescopes are required to make these observations. Chandra is an Earth satellite in a 64-hour orbit, and its mission is ongoing as of 2023.
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, formerly called the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), is a space observatory being used to perform gamma-ray astronomy observations from low Earth orbit. Its main instrument is the Large Area Telescope (LAT), with which astronomers mostly intend to perform an all-sky survey studying astrophysical and cosmological phenomena such as active galactic nuclei, pulsars, other high-energy sources and dark matter. Another instrument aboard Fermi, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor, is being used to study gamma-ray bursts and solar flares.
The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) was a space observatory detecting photons with energies from 20 keV to 30 GeV, in Earth orbit from 1991 to 2000. The observatory featured four main telescopes in one spacecraft, covering X-rays and gamma rays, including various specialized sub-instruments and detectors. Following 14 years of effort, the observatory was launched from Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-37 on April 5, 1991, and operated until its deorbit on June 4, 2000. It was deployed in low Earth orbit at 450 km (280 mi) to avoid the Van Allen radiation belt. It was the heaviest astrophysical payload ever flown at that time at 16,300 kilograms (35,900 lb).
The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) was a NASA satellite that observed the time variation of astronomical X-ray sources, named after physicist Bruno Rossi. The RXTE had three instruments — an All Sky Monitor, the High-Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE) and the Proportional Counter Array. The RXTE observed X-rays from black holes, neutron stars, X-ray pulsars and X-ray bursts. It was funded as part of the Explorer program, and was also called Explorer 69.
NASA's series of Great Observatories satellites are four large, powerful space-based astronomical telescopes launched between 1990 and 2003. They were built with different technology to examine specific wavelength/energy regions of the electromagnetic spectrum: gamma rays, X-rays, visible and ultraviolet light, and infrared light.
Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager was a NASA solar flare observatory. It was the sixth mission in the Small Explorer program (SMEX), selected in October 1997 and launched on 5 February 2002, at 20:58:12 UTC. Its primary mission was to explore the physics of particle acceleration and energy release in solar flares.
Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, previously called the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer, is a NASA three-telescope space observatory for studying gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and monitoring the afterglow in X-ray, and UV/Visible light at the location of a burst. It was launched on 20 November 2004, aboard a Delta II launch vehicle. Headed by principal investigator Neil Gehrels until his death in February 2017, the mission was developed in a joint partnership between Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and an international consortium from the United States, United Kingdom, and Italy. The mission is operated by Pennsylvania State University as part of NASA's Medium Explorer program (MIDEX).
A pulsar is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its magnetic poles. This radiation can be observed only when a beam of emission is pointing toward Earth, and is responsible for the pulsed appearance of emission. Neutron stars are very dense and have short, regular rotational periods. This produces a very precise interval between pulses that ranges from milliseconds to seconds for an individual pulsar. Pulsars are one of the candidates for the source of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.
The first accreting millisecond pulsar discovered in 1998 by the Italian-Dutch BeppoSAX satellite, SAX J1808.4−3658 revealed X-ray pulsations at the 401 Hz neutron star spin frequency when it was observed during a subsequent outburst in 1998 by NASA's RXTE satellite. The neutron star is orbited by a brown dwarf binary companion with a likely mass of 0.05 solar masses, every 2.01 hours. X-ray burst oscillations and quasi-periodic oscillations in addition to coherent X-ray pulsations have been seen from SAX J1808.4-3658, making it a Rosetta stone for interpretation of the timing behavior of low-mass X-ray binaries.
NuSTAR is a NASA space-based X-ray telescope that uses a conical approximation to a Wolter telescope to focus high energy X-rays from astrophysical sources, especially for nuclear spectroscopy, and operates in the range of 3 to 79 keV.
X-ray pulsar-based navigation and timing (XNAV) or simply pulsar navigation is a navigation technique whereby the periodic X-ray signals emitted from pulsars are used to determine the location of a vehicle, such as a spacecraft in deep space. A vehicle using XNAV would compare received X-ray signals with a database of known pulsar frequencies and locations. Similar to GPS, this comparison would allow the vehicle to calculate its position accurately (±5 km). The advantage of using X-ray signals over radio waves is that X-ray telescopes can be made smaller and lighter. Experimental demonstrations have been reported in 2018.
AstroSat is India's first dedicated multi-wavelength space telescope. It was launched on a PSLV-XL on 28 September 2015. With the success of this satellite, ISRO has proposed launching AstroSat-2 as a successor for AstroSat.
Gamma-ray astronomy is the astronomical observation of gamma rays, the most energetic form of electromagnetic radiation, with photon energies above 100 keV. Radiation below 100 keV is classified as X-rays and is the subject of X-ray astronomy.
Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer mission was a NASA space observatory mission. The main scientific goal of GEMS was to be the first mission to systematically measure the polarization of X-ray sources. GEMS would have provided data to help scientists study the shape of spacetime that has been distorted by a spinning black hole's gravity and the structure and effects of the magnetic fields around neutron stars. It was cancelled by NASA in June 2012 for potential cost overruns due to delays in developing the technology and never moved into the development phase.
The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) is a cancelled X-ray telescope that was to be launched in 2021 as a joint effort by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). In May 2008, ESA and NASA established a coordination group involving all three agencies, with the intent of exploring a joint mission merging the ongoing XEUS and Constellation-X Observatory (Con-X) projects. This proposed the start of a joint study for IXO. NASA was forced to cancel the observatory due to budget constraints in fiscal year 2012. ESA however decided to reboot the mission on its own developing Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics as a part of Cosmic Vision program.
SpaceX CRS-11, also known as SpX-11, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station, launched successfully on 3 June 2017. The mission was contracted by NASA and was flown by SpaceX. The mission utilized a Falcon 9 launch vehicle and was the first reuse of C106, a CRS Dragon cargo vessel that was previously flown on the CRS-4 mission.
Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, commonly known as IXPE or SMEX-14, is a space observatory with three identical telescopes designed to measure the polarization of cosmic X-rays of black holes, neutron stars, and pulsars. The observatory, which was launched on 9 December 2021, is an international collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). It is part of NASA's Explorers program, which designs low-cost spacecraft to study heliophysics and astrophysics.
The X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) is an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) planned space observatory to study polarisation of cosmic X-rays. It is scheduled to be launched on 1 January 2024 or later on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) - C58 mission, with a lifespan of at least five years.
Lowell Center for Space Science & Technology is a public research centre in Lowell, Massachusetts, affiliated by University of Massachusetts Lowell. The research centre has partners and grants from research giants like NASA, National Science Federation, BoldlyGo institute for its excellence in Space science research.
Previously scheduled for a December 2016 launch on SpaceX CRS-12, NICER will now fly to the International Space Station with two other payloads on SpaceX Commercial Resupply Services (CRS)-11, in the Dragon vehicle's unpressurized Trunk.This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
Each photon detected by NICER is time-tagged with an absolute precision of much better than 300 nanosecondsThis article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .