Chandra Photo Album

Images made by optical, infrared, radio and previous x-ray telescopes are shown. These images will be used by astronomers to compare with Chandra images when they become available.

First Chandra Targets

Sky Map - Explore the X-ray sky with an interactive Sky Map, and learn about Galactic Navigation

Images by Category - Cosmic X-ray sources listed according to categories: Solar System; Normal Stars; White Dwarfs; Supernovae & Supernova Remnants; Neutron Stars; Black Holes; Normal Galaxies; Quasars; Galaxy Clusters; X-ray Background; Misc.

Looking for images of the Chandra spacecraft & mission? Please visit our multimedia section.

Chronological Listing - Selected Cosmic X-ray sources listed by when the picture was taken. - Coming soon!

Photo Album Tutorial - A quick guide on Downloading, Saving and Printing Images.

Key to Photo Album Terms - Want to know how the Chandra images were made? What VLA, etc., stands for?

Image Use Policy - Guidelines for utilizing images, applets, movies and animations featured in this Web site.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/05/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/photo/index.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:38:46 AM] Chandra Photo Album

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/photo/index.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:38:46 AM] Welcome to the Chandra Xray Observatory Center!!!

Operated for NASA by SAO

Chandra X-ray Observatory is Being Processed for Launch at Kennedy Space Center

Visit: NASA's official Chandra Newsroom at MSFC for status reports, etc. through activation.

Now Showing: View Chandra in the VPF, live at KSC. (03-16-99)

Recent News: A major simulation involving all members of the team that will launch and activate NASA¹s Chandra X-ray Observatory began May 12 as launch preparations continue at KSC, for a launch not earlier than July 22. More Info (05-13-99)

Vote: Voice your opinion in our new interactive Chandra Poll!

Above: Chandra in the Vertcial Processing Facility at KSC. More Photos!

Chandra X-ray Observatory Center, Operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Text Only Version | Name Contest | MSFC | Human Spaceflight Web

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Revised: 05/13/99 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA [email protected] Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577

This site was developed with funding from NASA under Contract NAS8-39073.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/index.html [5/24/1999 9:38:53 AM] Chandra Xray Observatory - Public Information & Education

New! Voice your opinion in our interactive Chandra Poll Have an extra minute? We could really use your feedback!

Send a friend a Chandra Virtual Postcard, or bring Chandra to your desktop with our Screen Savers (New! For Mac & PC!) & Wallpaper!

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Revised: 05/05/99 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA [email protected] Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577

This site was developed with funding from NASA under Contract NAS8-39073.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/pub.html [5/24/1999 9:38:59 AM] Chandra Xray Observatory - Field Guide to X-ray Astronomy

The X-ray Astronomy Field Guide - An overview to X-ray Astronomy and X-ray sources: from black holes to galaxy clusters.

About X-ray Astronomy - A brief review of the history of X-ray astronomy, what X-rays are, how they are produced in the cosmos, why X-ray telescopes must be in space, and why X-ray astronomy is such a "hot" field.

X-ray Sources - An explanation of different types of cosmic X-ray sources, and detailed descriptions of some of the individual sources observed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Cluster Comparison: Optical image on left, X-ray image on right. Comparison of the Coma cluster of galaxies.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/12/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/field_guide.html [5/24/1999 9:39:01 AM] Chandra - About Chandra

Information about the Chandra X-ray Observatory mission and goals, and the people who built it. Pictured below, right: collage of the Chandra spacecraft, its namesake Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, and an x-ray image of Cassiopeia A from Rosat.

The Chandra Mission - An overview of the Chandra mission and the latest status report.

Chandra Hardware - Descriptions of the Chandra mirrors, science instruments, and spacecraft.

Current Events - Reports on the health and well-being of the Chandra X-ray Observatory,

Who's Who at CXC? - Some of the people behind the Observatory and contact information.

Fun Facts - Learn some interesting trivia about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and what it will study in a fun question & answer format!

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar - Discover the the man behind the name.

Top Ten Amazing Facts About The Chandra - Did you know the Chandra is the largest satellite Shuttle Columbia has ever launched? Well, you'll find this and other exciting tidbits here!

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/12/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/about/index.html [5/24/1999 9:39:04 AM] Chandra - Educational Materials

Resources for teachers, parents, and students: classroom activities, interactive games, and more!

Classroom Activities - Handouts, quizzes, interaction with Astrophysicists and more!

The Launch - Information & activities involving the Space Shuttle Columbia

Interactive Games - Educational Word Searches, Puzzles, Memory, and other games about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Xray Astronomy!

Links & Resources - A list of links and other resources for science education.

New! The Chandra X-ray Observatory Center is participating in Lycos' CyberSurfari '99 scavenger hunt, a fascinating World Wide Web expedition, where thousands of players explore over 100 exciting & educational Web site outposts. The summer contest starts June 21, 1999, so join in the fun and learn something new!

Winning Proposals 98 - Winning Education Proposals from AXAF AO1 (1998).

NASA'S Next Great Observatory Contest - Co-winners, runners-up and their submitted essays.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/17/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/edu/index.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:07 AM] Chandra - Educational Materials

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/edu/index.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:07 AM] Chandra Press Room

CHANDRA UPDATE: A major simulation involving all members of the team that will launch and activate NASA¹s Chandra X-ray Observatory began May 12 as launch preparations of the observatory continue at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., for a launch not earlier than July 22. More Info (13 May 99)

View: KSC Photo Corner for latest still photos of Chandra in the processing facility

Press Releases - Current releases concerning the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Press Images - Selected downloadable pictures & graphics relevant to press releases and articles.

Fact Sheets - Science & technology fact sheets about the Chandra Mission.

Articles - Published print media articles about Chandra X-ray Observatory

MSFC Interviews - Selected question/answer format interviews with key project people. Newsroom Coffee Break - Commentaries on X-ray astronomy & the Chandra Observatory by scientists.

Milestones - A brief chronological progress report of the Chandra Mission.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/05/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/index.html [5/24/1999 9:39:11 AM] Chandra Resources

A glossary of terms, a collection of multimedia, links and other useful resources.

Multimedia, etc. - A group of images, illustrations and other multimedia focusing on the Chandra mission, x-ray astronomy, x-ray sources and Chandrasekhar:

Images & Illustrations Screen Savers

Animations Wallpaper

Presentations Handouts & Activities

Questions and Answers - A posting of questions and answers concerning the Chandra X-ray Observatory and related topics.

Glossary - Reference section defining scientific words and phrases used throughout this Web site.

Further Reading - Links and reference books related to the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, space science or science education.

Acronym Guide - Description of acronyms and abbreviations used.

Fact Sheets - Press Fact Sheets section that includes "Exploring the X-ray Universe", "AXAF Schematics & Specifications" & the "CXC Science Fact Sheet"

Downloads - Help for accessing multimedia offered in the CXC web sites: applications for viewing images, playing movies, sound clips, animations & more!

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/05/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/index.html [5/24/1999 9:39:14 AM] Chandra Resources - Multimedia, Illustrations, Handouts, etc.

Multimedia

The Chandra Mission. Spacecraft, etc. X-ray Astronomy. X-ray science, etc. X-ray Sources. Black holes, quasars, etc. Chandrasekhar. Portraits of our namesake.

CXC Animations & Video!

Screensavers, Desktop Patterns & Wallpaper.

CXC Presentations, Posters, Program Overview (5/97).

The X-ray Universe, the Chandra Observatory, and more!

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 04/28/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/illustrations.html [5/24/1999 9:39:18 AM] Chandra Resources - Questions and Answers

Questions and Answers

Tips on asking questions

QUESTION 1 ANSWER Every picture of a spiral galaxy including our own, depicts a very bright, spherical center ... I assume a dense cluster of stars. We can see this bright center in distant galaxies, and I've always wondered, why we don't see the bright center of our own. Or, do we, and I don't know what I'm looking at? It seems it would be far brighter than our sun, even though we are at the far edge of the galaxy. Thanks for helping me find it!!

QUESTION 2 ANSWER How many years is the Hubble telescope scheduled to be in operation, and what is next. Hubble has images that go out around 11 billion light-years into the known universe ... how far will the next telescope reach?

QUESTION 3 ANSWER I have been thinking about the nature of spacial distortion due to matter. If space is distorted are there any other noticeable effects apart from a gravitational field? If we were to "distort" space, is the observable distance through that space just as "long" to an object passing through it and would take the same amount of energy to accelerate it regardless of the distortion? Are there any web links you know of on this subject? Thanks.

QUESTION 4 ANSWER If matter was so dense at the time of the big bang, how come it didn't form a black hole?

QUESTION 5 ANSWER I would like to know what the order of the spectrum would look like if we looked at a light made of neon by using a telescope or some other instruments.

QUESTION 6 ANSWER Someone once said : "Time and space are modes by which we think and not a

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/q_and_a.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:19 AM] Chandra Resources - Questions and Answers condition in which we live." I did not get exactly what it meant. Can you help me?

QUESTION 7 ANSWER Where on the web can I find a picture of the structure of the universe? The universe as currently mapped shows a fibrous structure, with large voids of about 150 million light years across. This picture, I presume, comes from light that started traveling from these galaxies several million years ago. Does this mean this picture was formed before the galaxies (or clusters of them) had a chance to travel much relative to each other?

QUESTION 8 ANSWER Why do we need X-ray telescopes?

QUESTION 9 ANSWER How can an X-ray telescope observe X-rays from a black hole? I thought nothing could escape from a black hole.

QUESTION 10 ANSWER What is so special about AXAF?

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/05/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/q_and_a.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:19 AM] Chandra Resources - Glossary

Glossary

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J K L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U V | W X Y Z

absolute brightness The apparent brightness a star would have if it were placed at a standard distance of 10 parsecs from Earth. absorption line Dark line in an otherwise continuous bright spectrum, where light within one narrow frequency range has been moved. absorption, X-ray

acceleration The rate of change of velocity of a moving object. accretion disk Flat disk of matter spiraling down onto the surface of a star or black hole. Often, the matter originated on the surface of a companion star in a binary system. active galaxy The most energetic galaxies, which can emit hundreds or thousands of times more energy per second than the Milky Way. Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) The largest and most sophisticated X-ray observatory to date when it is launched in 1998. astronomy Branch of science dedicated to the study of everything in the universe that lies above Earth's atmosphere. asymptotic giant branch Path on the H-R diagram corresponding to the changes that a star undergoes after helium burning ceases in the core. At this stage, the carbon core shrinks and drives the expansion of the envelope, and the star becomes a swollen red giant for a second time. atmosphere A layer of gas confined close to a planet's surface by the force of gravity. atom Building block of matter, composed of positively charged protons and neutral neutrons in the nucleus, sorrounded by negatively charged electrons.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/glossaryA.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:21 AM] Chandra Resources - Glossary

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 11/02/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/glossaryA.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:21 AM] Chandra Resources - Further Reading

Further Reading

This section contains references (links and books) with more information about the Chandra X-ray Observatory, space science or science education. Links

Other Chandra-related sites:

High Resolution Camera (HRC) Homepage

Kodak/Mirror Assembly

Low Energy Transmission Grating (LETG) Homepage

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)

MIT AXAF CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) Homepage

MIT CSR - High Energy Transmission Grating Project

Operations Control Center

STS-93 Mission Page

TRW

X-Ray Calibration Facility (XRCF) Homepage

NASA & Space Science sites:

HEASARC

Human Spaceflight Web

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA Aerospace Education Services

NASA Headquarters

NASA Observatorium

NASA Spacelink

Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/further.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:39:22 AM] Chandra Resources - Further Reading

Structure & Evolution of the Universe

STScI Space Telescope

Science@NASA's HubbleConstant.com

Other Smithsonian sites:

CFA Public Affairs

High Energy Astrophysics Division

Smithsonian Institution

Science Education Sites

Chandra Educational Resources - a new section just for education links!

Books

M. Bartusiak, X-rays Expose the Violent Sky, Smithsonian, July 1998, p.82.

M. Begelman and M. Rees, "Gravity's Fatal Attraction", Scientific American Library, 1996.

P. Charles & F. Seward, Exploring the X-ray Universe, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995.

J. Silk, "A Short History of the Universe" W.H. Freeman, 1994.

B. Smith, AXAF Poised to Probe Universe-Shaping Events, Aviation Week & Space Technology, July 13, 1998, p.72.

K. Thorne, Black Holes and Time Warps, W.W. Norton, 1994.

W. Tucker & R. Giacconi, The X-ray Universe, Harvard Univ. Press, 1985.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/further.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:39:22 AM] Chandra Resources - Further Reading

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/24/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/further.html (3 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:39:22 AM] Chandra - Excite Search Engine

Search Index of the Chandra Web Site.

Enter words describing a concept or keywords you wish to find information about:

Documentation about making queries is available. TIP: If you plan on making multiple queries, you might wish to make a bookmark for this page.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/10/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/search.html [5/24/1999 9:39:25 AM] Help on Making Queries Making Queries

Excite for Web Servers gives web users access to a sophisticated concept-based searching engine. But even though the search engine is advanced, users can form queries without using a complicated query language. This page will help you to choose the queries that will give you the best results. Query Basics

A query is simply a description of an information need. Unlike Boolean systems that search for just those documents containing all the words in your query, Excite for Web Servers will search for documents that are a best match for the words in your query. Excite for Web Servers will also search for documents that are about the same concepts that your query describes, so sometimes Excite for Web Servers will bring back articles that don't mention any of the words in your original query. What this means is that your query -- the description of your information need -- can be as detailed as you like. Don't worry about providing too many words; the more words, the better. Additional words in your query will help Excite for Web Servers figure out what concepts you're really interested in. On the other hand, Excite for Web Servers will do a pretty good job of figuring out what documents are interesting to you even if your query is vague. For example, let's say you're searching a web site for documents about customer support for the Widget2000 product you're using. A good starting point would be

customer support for the Widget2000 If you have a question about a particular feature of the Widget2000, for example the Blurfl upgrade package, you might choose a query like

customer support for the Blurfl upgrade package of the Widget2000 Even if there are no documents that are actually about the Blurfl upgrade, Excite for Web Servers will still show you documents about Widget2000 customer support. Advanced Query Tips

Here are some suggestions for getting the best results out of Excite for Web Servers. Only use words that are relevant to your query If you're looking for documents about the Widget2000, don't enter a query like "Find me all documents about the Widget2000". Excite for Web Servers considers all the words in your query to be part of your information need, so queries like the previous example will find all documents about finding all documents about the Widget2000, which may not be exactly what you want. Specify multiple forms of the same phrases

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/search/AT-queryhelp.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:26 AM] Help on Making Queries Excite for Web Servers distinguishes between hyphenated and un-hyphenated words. So, sometimes it might be necessary to explicitly say that you want both versions, for example "CDROM CD-ROM". Excite for Web Servers will try to figure out that CDROM and CD-ROM are the same, but it never hurts to explicitly specify multiple forms. Common words are ignored Excite for Web Servers doesn't index common words like a, and, or the. Consequently, those words in your query will be ignored. Excite for Web Servers also ignores numbers; however, it can find strings that happen to contain a number, for example 3Com.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/search/AT-queryhelp.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:26 AM] Chandra Launch!

Public Information & Education | Chandra Home | Naming Contest

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/03/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/index.html [5/24/1999 9:39:30 AM] Chandra Launch - The Shuttle's Mission

Shuttle Columbia

Columbia: Learn the history and past missions of the Columbia, the first Space Shuttle launched into space.

Science Objectives: In addition to the launch of the Chandra Observatory, there are a number of interesting projects as part of this Shuttle mission (STS-93). Read about them here.

Astronauts: Did you know that this mission will be the first NASA space mission commanded by a woman? Learn more about the astronauts who will be helping put Chandra into orbit.

Kids' Projects: Learn about the Earth! One project has kids asking astronomers to take photographs of specific places on the Earth. Learn about this and other exciting projects!

Explore: Chandra Science, gateway to the hot universe of exploding stars, galaxy clusters and black holes!

New! Try our Launch Crossword Puzzle or our Launch Word Search (puzzles utilize JAVA, best if used with Netscape 4.0 or Internet Explorer 4.0)!

Launch Home | Public Information | Chandra Home | Naming Contest

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/22/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/index.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:33 AM] Chandra Launch - The Shuttle's Mission

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/index.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:33 AM] Chandra Launch - Current Status/Events

Current Status & Events

View: KSC Photo Corner for latest still photos of Chandra in the processing facility

In Person: Stop by the KSC Visitor site to get public information on viewing the Chandra (or any other shuttle mission) launch in person.

Visit: MSFC Chandra Newsroom for mission status reports

Now Showing: View VPF Operations via a live video feed at KSC. Chandra is being processed for launch in the VPF, Vertical Processing Facility. This page updates every 90 seconds and selects 1 of 4 possible views. The views are rotated every 15 seconds, but the picture is only updated every 90 seconds.

Questions Answered: Chandra Launch Delays - After staying on schedule for an August 28, 1998 launch date for five years, the launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory has slipped several times. We talked to Dr. Harvey Tananbaum, Director of the Chandra X-ray Observatory Center about these delays.

Explore: Chandra Science, gateway to the hot universe of exploding stars, galaxy clusters and black holes!

Investigate: Chandra Public Info Press Room, - a collection of press releases, fact sheets, articles and interviews.

Visit: NASA's Shuttle Countdown Online - a NASA site for accessing a variety of useful information relating to Space Shuttle Launches, processing, countdown and status.

Coming Soon: An interactive timeline that discusses in detail what is happening when. We're putting together a full timeline of the events leading up to, and immediately after the launch.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/index.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:36 AM] Chandra Launch - Current Status/Events

Launch Home | Public Information | Chandra Home | Naming Contest

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/13/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/index.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:36 AM] Chandra Launch - Mission

Chandra's Mission

Deployment: How do the astronauts get the observatory from the Shuttle into its orbit? Read all about this delicate and amazing process here.

About Chandra: What is the Chandra Observatory? Who built it? What does it look like? How does it work? These and many other questions are answered here.

Science Objectives: What do scientists hope to use the Chandra to learn and discover? Learn about the uses of this advanced observatory.

Visit: Our Educational Materials section in the Chandra Public Information & Education web site. Try some classroom activities, browse through handouts, and play some interactive games!

Explore: Chandra Science, gateway to the hot universe of exploding stars, galaxy clusters and black holes!

Investigate: Human Spaceflight Web and STS-93 Shuttle Countdown to access a variety of useful information relating to Space Shuttle Launches, processing, countdown and status. For more Chandra and Launch related links, see our section on Further Reading.

Launch Home | Public Information | Chandra Home | Naming Contest

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/22/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/index.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:39 AM] Chandra Launch - Mission

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/index.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:39 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Chandra Launch

STS-93 - Chandra Deployment Mission

The Chandra X-ray Observatory will be launched on Space Shuttle mission STS-93.

STS-93 Target Launch Date: July 9, 1999

With the completion of the Neurolab mission (STS-90) and the decision not to refly it, Chandra is Columbia's next flight. Bar chart of Chandra mission status.

STS-93 launch vehicle:

Chandra will be launched by the NASA Space Transportation System (STS) from NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS vehicle consists of the Space Shuttle Orbiter - in this case, the original flight vehicle, OV-102 Columbia - a disposable External Tank containing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and two Redesigned Solid Rocket Motors in recoverable Solid Rocket Boosters. Chandra, attached to a Boeing IUS rocket, is mounted in the Orbiter's payload bay for launch. The Orbiter reaches a low circular orbit and deploys the Chandra/IUS combination. The two IUS solid motors fire in succession to place Chandra in a highly elliptical orbit. Chandra's own IPS integral propulsion system, derived from TRW's DM-LAE comsat apogee engine, will fire several times to raise the orbit to its final height of 10000 x 140000 km.

Page 1 | 2

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/deployment.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:41 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Chandra Launch

Launch Home | Public Information | Chandra Home | Naming Contest

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/05/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/deployment.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:41 AM] Chandra's Mission - About The Chandra

About The Chandra

Drawing portraying mission orbit of Chandra

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, scheduled to be launched and deployed by the Space Shuttle in July of 1999, will be the most sophisticated X-ray observatory ever built.

The Chandra is designed to observe X-rays from high energy regions of the universe, such as hot gas in the remnants of exploded stars. The two images of the Tycho supernova remnant shown below illustrate how higher resolution improves the quality of an image:

The image on the left is from a low-resolution detector on the Einstein Observatory. The image on the right, taken by the High Resolution Imager on the Einstein Observatory, has ten times better resolution, or finer detail (pixel area ten times smaller), than the one on the left. The Chandra Xray Observatory's images will be fifty times better than the image on the right.

Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/about.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:43 AM] Chandra's Mission - About The Chandra

Launch Home | Public Information | Chandra Home | Naming Contest

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/05/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/about.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:43 AM] http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/graphics/about/od4.gif

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/graphics/about/od4.gif [5/24/1999 9:39:44 AM] Chandra's Mission - About The Chandra

About The Chandra

Tycho: Different Resolutions

X-ray images of the Tycho supernova remnant, taken at different levels of resolution by the low-resolution Imaging Proportional Counter (16 arc second pixels) and the High Resolution Imager (5 arc second pixels). Chandra will produce images at the 1 arc second level or better.

Return to Chandra Mission

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/tycho.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:48 AM] Chandra's Mission - About The Chandra

Launch Home | Public Information | Chandra Home | Naming Contest

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 12/21/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/tycho.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:48 AM] Chandra's Mission - Chandra Science Objectives

Chandra Science Objectives

When Chandra is launched in 1999, it will begin an exploration of the hot turbulent regions in space with images 25 times sharper than previous x-ray pictures. The example below illustrates how Chandra will enable astronomers to study the process by which jets of matter are ejected from supermassive black holes in the dense central regions of galaxies.

Chandra's improved sensitivity will make possible more detailed studies of black holes, supernovas, and dark matter and increase our understanding of the origin, evolution, and destiny of the universe.

Launch Home | Public Information | Chandra Home | Naming Contest

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 01/21/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/science.html [5/24/1999 9:39:51 AM] Chandra's Mission - About The Chandra

About The Chandra

The Observatory has three major parts: (1) the X-ray telescope, whose mirrors will focus X-rays from celestial objects; (2) the science instruments which record the X-rays so that X-ray images can be produced and analyzed; and (3) the spacecraft, which provides the environment necessary for the telescope and the instruments to work.

Chandra's unusual orbit will be achieved after deployment by a built-in propulsion system which will boost the observatory to a high earth orbit as shown above. This orbit, which will have the shape of an ellipse, will take the spacecraft more than a third of the way to the moon before returning to its closest approach to the earth of 10,000 kilometers (6200 miles). The time to complete an orbit will be 64 hours and 18 minutes.

The spacecraft will spend 85% of its orbit above the belts of charged particles that surround the Earth. Uninterrupted observations as long as 55 hours will be possible and the overall percentage of useful observing time will be much greater than for the low earth orbit of a few hundred kilometers used by most satellites.

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/axaf_mission2.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:54 AM] Chandra's Mission - About The Chandra

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 01/21/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/axaf_mission2.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:54 AM] Chandra's Mission - About The Chandra

About The Chandra

Extraordinary commitment and precision is required to plan and build telescopes that will be placed in space where they are operated by remote control in a hostile environment of wild temperature swings and hard vacuum, after withstanding the controlled fury of launch. The entire process typically takes many years and creativity is demanded when unexpected changes are imposed. The Chandra observatory was first proposed to NASA in 1976 and funding began in 1977 when NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center started the definition studies of the telescope.

In 1992, there was a major restructuring of the observatory. NASA decided that in order to reduce cost, the number of mirrors would be decreased from twelve to eight and only four of the six scientific instruments would be used. At this point the planned orbit was changed from low to high earth orbit to preserve the scientific capability of Chandra.

Teams of scientists, engineers, technicians and managers who work at numerous government centers, Universities and corporations have been building and assembling Chandra over the past twenty years. Many of these dedicated men and women have been involved in the project from its inception.

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/axaf_mission3.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:55 AM] Chandra's Mission - About The Chandra

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 01/21/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/axaf_mission3.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:55 AM] Chandra's Mission - About The Chandra

About The Chandra

The Chandra Xray Center (CXC) is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and staffed by personnel from SAO, MIT, and TRW. Dr. Harvey Tananbaum is the Center's director. Science Support is responsible for the mission planning and science operations. The Operations Control Center will direct the flight and execute the observing plan of the observatory, and receive the scientific data from the observatory.

More Information About The Chandra

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 01/21/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/axaf_mission4.html [5/24/1999 9:39:56 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Chandra Launch

STS-93 - Chandra Deployment Mission

Mission Status

Completion Status Activity Schedule [ 0% to 100% ] Mirror Grinding & Dec 91 - Jul Polishing 95 Jul 95 - Nov Mirror Assembly 96 Science Instrument Jan 90 - Jan Development 97 Integral Propulsion Dec 93 - Mar System 97 Spacecraft Dec 95 - Mar Structure 97 Fabrication Mirror & Nov 96 - Apr Instrument 97 Calibration Spacecraft Apr 97 - Oct Assembly & 97 Testing Telescope Apr 97 - Sep Assembly & 97 Testing Observatory Assembly & Oct 97 - TBD Testing Chandra arrive at Feb 4, 99 KSC Launch Feb. - TBD Preparation at KSC Chandra/IUS transfer to TBD Columbia

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/bar_chart.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:58 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Chandra Launch Launch!! TBD On orbit TBD Calibration Scientific TBD Operations

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 04/01/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/bar_chart.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:58 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Chandra Launch

STS-93 - Chandra Deployment Mission

Chandra launch and deployment timeline:

Mission Time Orbit (perigee Event Description (hh:mm) x apogee, km) 00:00 Launch RSRM ignition, liftoff . 00:02 SRB Sep RSRM burnout, separation . 00:08 MECO Main engine cutoff . 00:08 ET Sep External Tank separation 20? x 320 00:45 OMS-2 OMS orbit circ burn 320 x 320 02:00 PLBD Payload bay doors open . 06:29 Tilt Raise tilt table to 4 deg . 07:29 Tilt Raise tilt table to 29 deg . 08:00 . Chandra to internal power . 08:32 Tilt Raise tilt table to 58 deg . 08:42 Deploy Chandra/IUS-27 deploy 320 x 320 09:32 LGA Chandra deploys LGA antenna . 09:41 SRM-1 IUS-27 SRM-1 burn . IUS-27 SRM-1 sep from 09:43 SRM-1 cutoff 320 x ? SRM-2 09:46 SRM-2 IUS-27 SRM-2 burn . 09:48 SRM-2 cutoff IUS-27 SRM-2 cutoff 320 x 64000 10:11 SA Deploy Chandra solar panels deploy . IUS-27 SRM-2 sep from 10:58 SRM-2 sep . Chandra 42:30 IPS-1 IPS burn 1, perigee 320 x 89900 81:51 IPS-2 IPS burn 2, perigee 320 x 140000 111:09 IPS-3 IPS burn 3, apogee 10000 x 140000 174:52 IPS-4 Trim burn, apogee 10000 x 140000

Visit the Official STS-93 Mission homepage at http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-93/mission-sts-93.html

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/deployment2.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:59 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Chandra Launch

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 01/08/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/mission/deployment2.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:39:59 AM] Current Status/Events - Telemetry/Orbit Diagrams

Telemetry/Orbit Diagrams

Want to know where Chandra is in orbit? Check out MSFC's (Marshall Space Flight Center) real-time tracking system and view the current location of the spacecraft (java enhanced).

If you are really "adventurous," you can also try J-Track 3D, a neat three dimensional version of real-time tracking (also java enhanced).

Note MSFC's warning for the 3D version: "This program is computationally intensive!"

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 12/07/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/telemetry.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:40:03 AM] Current Status/Events - Telemetry/Orbit Diagrams

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/telemetry.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:40:03 AM] Current Status/Events - Live Video Feeds

Live Video Feeds

Want to see the launch of the Shuttle Columbia and Chandra Observatory live? Look here for live video feeds, provided by NASA SELECT TV.

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 12/07/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/video.html [5/24/1999 9:40:06 AM] Current Status/Events - Hot off the Press

Hot Off the Press

February 4, 1999 CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY ARRIVES AT KSC FOR PROCESSING Pictured Right: Chandra in a containment bag

January 20, 1999 NASA Announces Delay in Shipment of Chandra Observatory Pictured Right: The Chandra Spacecraft

December 21, 1998 NASA Names Next Premier X-ray Observatory and Schedules Launch Pictured Right: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Chandra)

October 13, 1998 NASA Delays Shipment of X-Ray Telescope to Kennedy Space Center to Allow Additional Testing Pictured Right: Portrayal of Chandra Spacecraft

June 25, 1998 Shuttle Astronauts Visit NASA`S X-Ray Center in Cambridge to Coordinate Launch Plans. Pictured Right: Cmdr. Ashby, Col. Collins

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/press.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:40:09 AM] Current Status/Events - Hot off the Press

NASA, United Space Alliance and Boeing North American have also released an online shuttle press kit available at www.shuttlepresskit.com. The press kit includes a mission profile; mission summary; flight plan; objectives and experiment information; crew information; payloads and links to other related websites; as well as a variety of other items, creating the most comprehensive press kit ever offered by NASA and its contractor partners.

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/10/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/press.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:40:09 AM] Current Status/Events - Hot off the Press

Hot Off the Press CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY ARRIVES AT KSC FOR PROCESSING

Feb. 4, 1999 MSFC News Release

The Chandra X-ray Observatory, scheduled to launch aboard Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-93, arrived at 2:45 p.m. EST today at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility aboard an Air Force C-5 Galaxy airplane. The telescope was shipped from the TRW plant in Redondo Beach, CA, with departure from Los Angeles International Airport occurring earlier this morning. A second airplane also brought the necessary ground support equipment to KSC for the campaign of final prelaunch integration and testing.

The ground support equipment is being off loaded today. The Chandra Observatory is to be taken off the airplane early Friday morning and transported to the Vertical Processing Facility located in the KSC Industrial Area. There, the telescope will undergo final installation of associated electronic components, be tested, fueled, and mated with the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster. A set of integrated tests will follow.

A major milestone is the test using the Cargo Integrated Test Equipment (CITE) to verify that Chandra and the Inertial Upper Stage will have the ability to receive and reply to commands once aboard the Space Shuttle. Also, an end-to-end test will verify the communications systems of the payload and its ability to communicate through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite system with Mission Control in Houston and the Chandra ground station located in Cambridge, MA. The Chandra/IUS combination will then be ready to go to the launch pad.

Once in the payload changeout room at Pad 39-B, the protective cocoon will be removed from around the telescope and it will be installed into Space Shuttle Columbia. An Integrated Verification Test will be conducted to check all of the electrical connections and the ability of the astronauts to send and receive commands from Columbia's flight deck. The end-to-end test will be repeated at the pad. Finally the IUS will go through a simulated

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/chandra_process.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:40:10 AM] Current Status/Events - Hot off the Press countdown to verify its readiness for launch.

Chandra will use the world's most powerful X-ray telescope to allow scientists to monitor cosmic events that are invisible to conventional optical telescopes. Chandra's X-ray images will yield new insight into celestial phenomena such as the temperature and extent of gas clouds that comprise clusters of galaxies and the superheating of gas and dust particles as they swirl into black holes. Chandra, previously known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), is the third in NASA's family of Great Observatories that includes the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.

Explore: Chandra Science, gateway to the hot universe of exploding stars, galaxy clusters and black holes!

Return to: Current Events | Hot Off the Press

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/26/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/chandra_process.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:40:10 AM] Current Status/Events - KSC Weather

KSC Weather

Get the latest weather at KSC (Kennedy Space Center). View KSC's Radar, a Radar/Composite Map, and a Satellite Map. Browse through the most recent weather information and releases, and daily weather data.

New! An in-depth look at NASA's weather criteria for launching and landing the Space Shuttle.

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 12/07/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/weather.html [5/24/1999 9:40:12 AM] Current Status/Events - KSC Weather

NASA's Weather Criteria

-for Space Shuttle Launch and End of Mission Landing

The following article is an in-depth look at the weather criteria for launching and landing Space Shuttles and expendable rockets. It is broken into four categories:

Launch Criteria Contingency Flight Rules KSC End of Mission Landing Flight Rules Weather Instrumentation

The launch weather guidelines involving the Space Shuttle and expendable rockets are similar in many areas, but a distinction is made for the individual characteristics of each. The criteria are broadly conservative and assure avoidance of possibly adverse conditions. They are reviewed for each launch.

For the Space Shuttle, weather "outlooks" provided by the U. S. Air Force Range Weather Operations Facility at Cape Canaveral begin at Launch minus 5 days in coordination with the NOAA National Weather Service Spaceflight Meteorology Group (SMG) at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. These include weather trends and their possible effects on launch day. A formal prelaunch weather briefing is held on Launch minus 1 day which is a specific weather briefing for all areas of Space Shuttle launch operations.

Launch weather forecasts, ground operations forecasts, and launch weather briefings for the Mission Management Team and the Space Shuttle Launch Director are prepared by the Range Weather Operations Facility. Forecasts which apply after launch are prepared by SMG. These include all emergency landing forecasts and the end of mission forecasts briefed by SMG to the astronauts, the Flight Director and Mission Management Team.

During the countdown, formal weather briefings occur approximately as follows (where "L-" equals "Launch minus":)

L-24 hr 0 min: Briefing for Flight Director and astronauts L-21 hr 0 min: Briefing for removal of Rotating Service Structure L-9 hr 00 min: Briefing for external tank fuel loading L-4 hr 30 min: Briefing for Space Shuttle Launch Director L-3 hr 55 min: Briefing for astronauts L-2 hr 10 min: Briefing for Flight Director

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/weather_criteria.html (1 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:40:16 AM] Current Status/Events - KSC Weather L-0 hr 35 min: Briefing for launch and RTLS L-0 hr 13 min: Poll all weather constraints

The basic weather launch commit criteria on the pad at liftoff must be:

Temperature: Prior to external tank propellant loading, tanking will not begin if the 24 hour average temperature has been below 41 degrees. After tanking begins, the countdown shall not be continued nor the Shuttle launched if: . Temperature exceeds 99 degrees for more than 30 consecutive minutes.

b. Temperature is lower than the prescribed minimum value for longer than 30 minutes unless sun angle, wind, temperature and relative humidity conditions permit recovery. The minimum temperature limit in degrees F. is specified by the table below and is a function of the five minute average of temperature, wind and humidity. The table becomes applicable when the observed temperature reaches 48 degrees. In no case may the Space Shuttle be launched if the temperature is 35 degrees or colder. Wind Speed Relative Humidity (kts) 0-64% 65-74% 75-79% 80-89% 90-100%

0 - 1 48 47 46 45 44 2 47 46 45 44 43 3 41 41 41 40 39 4 39 39 39 39 38 5 - 7 38 38 38 38 38 8 - 14 37 37 37 37 37 >14 36 36 36 36 36

The above table can be used to determine when conditions are again acceptable for launch if parameters have been out of limits for thirty minutes or less. If longer than thirty minutes, a mathematical recovery formula of the environmental conditions is used to determine if a return to acceptable parameters has been achieved. Launch conditions have been reached if the formula reaches a positive value.

Wind: Tanking will not begin if the wind is observed or forecast to exceed 42 knots for the next three hour period.

For launch the wind constraints at the launch pad will vary slightly for each mission. The peak wind speed allowable is 30 knots. However, when the wind direction is between 100 degrees and 260 degrees, the peak speed varies and may be as low as 21 knots.

The upper atmosphere wind profile must conform to either one of two wind loading programs developed by the Johnson Space Center. This profile is determined by a series of Jimsphere wind balloon releases from Cape Canaveral Air Station. A final recommendation is made by the JSC Launch Systems Evaluation Advisory Team (LSEAT) to the KSC launch director at Launch minus 30 minutes. The Space Shuttle will not be launched within 30 minutes of the time a determination has been made that the upper wind profile will adversely affect the performance of the launch vehicle.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/weather_criteria.html (2 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:40:16 AM] Current Status/Events - KSC Weather A downrange weather advisory shall be issued by the Shuttle Weather Officer to the Mission Management Team for their consideration if the wind in the solid rocket booster recovery area is forecast to exceed 26 knots during retrieval operations. Seas in excess of Sea State 5 (8-13 feet) may also be a factor considered by the Mission Management Team.

Precipitation: None at the launch pad or within the flight path.

Lightning (and electric fields with triggering potential):

Lightning is a giant spark. A single stroke of lightning can heat the air around it to 30,000 degrees Celsius (54,000 degrees Farhenheit)! This extreme heating causes the air to expand at an explosive rate. The expansion creates a shock wave that turns into a booming sound wave, better known as thunder. Thus the name thunderstorm.

Tanking will not begin if there is forecast to be greater than a 20% chance of lightning within five nautical miles of the launch pad during the first hour of tanking. The launch director with the concurrence of the safety director may make an exception after consultation with the Shuttle Weather Officer.

Do not launch if lightning has been detected within 10 nautical miles of the pad or the planned flight path within 30 minutes prior to launch. Launch may occur if the source of lightning has moved more than 10 nautical miles away from the pad or the flight path and a field mill, used to measure electric fields, is located within 5 nautical miles of the lightning flash.

The one-minute average of the electric field mill network may not exceed -1 or +1 kilovolt per meter within five nautical miles of the launch pad or the lightning flash at any time within 15 minutes prior to launch. This field mill criteria becomes -1.5 or + 1.5 kilovolts per meter if there are no clouds within 10 nautical miles of the flight path except those which are transparent. Also excepted are clouds with tops below the 41 degrees F. temperature level that have not have been previously associated with a thunderstorm, or associated with convective clouds having tops above the 14 degrees F. temperature level during the last three hours.

Do not launch when lightning is observed and the cloud which produced the lightning is within 10 nautical miles of the flight path. Launch may not occur until 30 minutes has elapsed since the lightning flash, or the cloud has moved more than 10 nautical miles away.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/weather_criteria.html (3 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:40:16 AM] Current Status/Events - KSC Weather

Next: Launch Criteria - Clouds

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Revised: 12/07/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/weather_criteria.html (4 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:40:16 AM] http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/graphics/weather_panorama.jpg

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/graphics/weather_panorama.jpg [5/24/1999 9:40:18 AM] Current Status/Events - KSC Weather

NASA's Weather Criteria

CONTINGENCY FLIGHT RULES

Weather criteria for an emergency landing must be considered along with launch criteria since the possibility exists for a Return To Launch Site abort (RTLS), landings at the Trans-Oceanic Abort Landing Sites (TAL), the Abort Once Around (AOA) sites and the first day Primary Landing Site (PLS). These forecasts are prepared by the NOAA National Weather Service Spaceflight Meteorology Group in Houston and briefed by them to the astronauts, Flight Director and Mission Management Team. All criteria refer to observed and forecast weather conditions except for the first day PLS which is forecast weather only.

For RTLS with redundant Microwave Landing System (MLS) capability and a weather reconnaissance aircraft, cloud coverage 4/8 or less below 5,000 feet and a visibility of 4 statute miles or greater are required. For AOA and PLS sites, cloud coverage 4/8 or less below 8,000 feet and a visibility of 5 statute miles or greater is required. For TAL sites, cloud coverage 4/8 or less below 5,000 feet and a visibility of 5 statute miles or greater are required.

For landing on a hard surface runway without redundant Microwave Landing System (MLS) capability all sites require a ceiling not less than 10,000 feet and a visibility of at least 7 statute miles. Landing at night on a lake bed runway may occur if the ceiling is not lower than 15,000 feet and the visibility is 7 miles or greater with at least non-redundant MLS capability .

For the RTLS site and TAL sites, no thunderstorms, lightning, or precipitation within 20 nautical miles of the runway, or within 10 nautical miles of the final approach path extending outward to 30 nautical miles from the end of the runway.

An RTLS rule exception may be made for light precipitation within 20 nautical miles of the runway if the specific criteria listed below are met: . The tops of the clouds containing precipitation do not extend into temperature regions colder than 41 (F.); they have not been colder than 14 (F. ) within 2.5 hours prior to launch; the radar reflectivity is less than 30 dbz at all levels within and below the clouds. b. Precipitation covers less than 10% of the area within 20 nautical miles of the runway, or multiple heading alignment circles are clear of showers. c. The movement of the showers is observed to be consistent and no additional convective development is forecast. d. Touchdown/rollout criteria and associated navigational aids meet the specified prelaunch go/no go requirements. If showers exceed either parameter of part a.) above, an RTLS landing may still occur if a 2 nautical mile vertical clearance can be maintained from the top of any shower within 10 nautical miles of the approach paths.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/weather_criteria3.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:40:19 AM] Current Status/Events - KSC Weather

For RTLS and TAL sites, no detached opaque thunderstorm anvils less than three hours old within 15 nautical miles of the runway, or within 5 nautical miles of the final approach path extending outward to 30 nautical miles from the end of the runway.

For AOA and PLS sites, no thunderstorms, lightning or precipitation within 30 nautical miles of the runway, or within 20 nautical miles of the final approach path extending to 30 nautical miles from the end of the runway.

For RTLS and the TAL sites, no detached opaque thunderstorm anvil cloud less than 3 hours old within 15 nautical miles of the runway or within 5 nautical miles of the final approach path extending outward to 30 nautical miles from the end of the runway.

For AOA and PLS sites, no detached opaque thunderstorm anvil cloud less than 3 hours old within 20 nautical miles of the runway or within 10 nautical miles of the final approach path extending to 30 nautical miles from the end of the runway.

The RTLS crosswind component may not exceed 15 knots. If the astronaut flying weather reconnaissance in the Shuttle Training Aircraft executes the approach and considers the landing conditions to be acceptable, this limit may be increased to 17 knots. For the TAL, AOA and PLS sites there is a night-time crosswind limit of 12 knots.

Headwind: not to exceed 25 knots.

Tailwind: not to exceed 10 knots average, 15 knots peak.

Turbulence: conditions must be less than or equal to moderate intensity.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/weather_criteria3.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:40:19 AM] Current Status/Events - KSC Weather Next: End of Mission Landing

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 12/07/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/weather_criteria3.html (3 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:40:19 AM] Current Status/Events - Timeline of events

Timeline of Events

Chandra Launch Scenario

View an abbreviated launch timeline & accompanying diagram.

In 1999, the solid rocket motors in the Solid Rocket Boosters on NASA Shuttle Transportation System 93 (STS-93) will ignite. Under the command of Col. Eileen Collins, the shuttle will lift off the launch pad at John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its mission: to carry NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory into space.

Two minutes later, the burn from the Solid Rocket Boosters will have been completed and the boosters separate from the shuttle. Parachutes blossom and carry the boosters gently into the Atlantic Ocean where they are recovered.

Eight minutes after launch the main engine cuts off and the disposable external fuel tank separates.

Forty-five minutes after launch the shuttle orbiter Columbia has achieved a circular orbit 320 kilometers (200 miles) above Earth.

At two hours into the mission, the payload doors open and the astronauts prepare to deploy the Chandra X-ray Observatory. For six hours, while Columbia silently orbits Earth, all the systems on the Chandra spacecraft are checked out and the satellite reaches equilibrium with the conditions in space.

Eight hours and 42 minutes after launch, a small spring gently catapults the giant satellite into space. Columbia pulls away a safe distance, and at 9 hours and 41 minutes into the mission, the first of two solid rocket motors attached to Chandra's spacecraft module ignite. The rocket burns for two minutes before shutting off and separating from the spacecraft. Three minutes later the second rocket fires. These firings lift the Chandra X-ray Observatory into a highly elliptical orbit that takes the satellite 64,000 kilometers away from Earth before returning to a closest approach of 320 kilometers. The solar panels deploy and the second solid rocket motor separates.

Over the course of the next nine days a second propulsion system fires five times to take the observatory to its final orbit. In this orbit, the distance of Chandra from Earth will range from 10,000 km (6,200 miles) to 140,000 km (about 87,500 miles), more than a third of the way to the moon. The time to complete an orbit will be 64 hours and

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/timeline.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:40:22 AM] Current Status/Events - Timeline of events 18 minutes. This allows for observation times as long as 52 hours, much longer than can be achieved with the low-Earth orbit of a few hundred kilometers used by most satellites.

View the Quick Time Movie of Chandra's orbit path. (1492992 Bytes, TRW Inc.)

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Revised: 03/29/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/timeline.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:40:22 AM] Current Status/Events - Timeline of events

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/timeline.html (3 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:40:22 AM] Current Status/Events - Timeline of events

Timeline of Events

Chandra Launch Scenario

1. ( 0:00 hours ) The solid rocket motors ignite and Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off. 2. ( 0:02 hours ) The burn of the solid rocket motors is complete and they separate from the shuttle. 3. ( 0:08 hours ) The main engine cuts off and the disposable external fuel tank separates. 4. ( 2:00 hours ) Shuttle payload doors open and at 8:42 hours, a small spring gently catapults the satellite into space. 5. Columbia continues to orbit for a few days while conducting science experiments before returning to Earth. . ( 9:41 hours ) The first of two solid rocket motors ignites, burns, and separates from Chandra. B. ( 9:44 hours ) The second rocket fires, lifting Chandra into a highly elliptical orbit. For the next nine days a second propulsion system fires five times to take the observatory to its final orbit.

View the Quick Time Movie of Chandra's orbit path.

(1492992 Bytes, TRW Inc.)

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/timeline-ni.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:40:26 AM] Current Status/Events - Timeline of events

Launch Home | Public Information | Chandra Home | Naming Contest

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/22/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/timeline-ni.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:40:26 AM] Current Status/Events - Timeline of events

Timeline of Events

Chandra Launch Scenario

While the secondary propulsion system is maneuvering Chandra into its final orbit, instructions will be sent to the spacecraft to power up the scientific instruments and allow them to adjust to the low temperatures and vacuum of space. This process takes about two and a half weeks. If all goes well, the sunshade door will open toward the end of the third week after launch and Chandra's mirrors will focus X-rays from a cosmic source onto the CCD detector.

The first few days of observing will be used to get the detectors in focus, and to check out the performance of the mirrors and instruments. All the instruments will be moved in and out of the focus during this checkout, or calibration phase. This procedure will take an additional three or four weeks before it is completed, but the Chandra science team expects to have some beautiful images about one month after launch. Check the Photo Album for a list of the first targets to be observed!!!

View an abbreviated launch timeline & accompanying diagram.

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NASA's Weather Criteria

KSC END OF MISSION LANDING WEATHER FLIGHT RULES

The end of mission landing weather forecast is prepared by the NOAA National Weather Service Spaceflight Meteorology Group in Houston for the astronauts, Flight Director and Mission Management Team. All criteria refer to observed and forecast weather conditions. Decision time for the deorbit burn is 70 - 90 minutes before landing. The weather criteria are:

Cloud coverage of 4/8 or less below 8,000 feet and a visibility of 5 miles or greater required.

The peak cross wind cannot exceed 15 knots, 12 knots at night. If the mission duration is greater than 20 days the limit is 12 knots, day and night.

Headwind cannot exceed 25 knots.

Tailwind cannot exceed 10 knots average, 15 knots peak.

No thunderstorm, lightning, or precipitation activity is within 30 nautical miles of the Shuttle Landing Facility.

Detached opaque thunderstorm anvils less than three hours old must not be within 20 nautical miles of the Shuttle Landing Facility, or within 10 nautical miles of the flight path when the orbiter is within 30 nautical miles of the runway.

Turbulence must be less than or equal to moderate intensity.

Consideration may be given for landing with a "no go" observation and a "go" forecast if at decision time analysis clearly indicates a continuing trend of improving weather conditions, and the forecast states that all weather criteria will be met at landing time.

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NASA's Weather Criteria

WEATHER INSTRUMENTATION

The weather equipment used by the forecasters to develop the launch and landing forecasts is:

Radar: Launch forecasters located at Cape Canaveral Air Station and landing forecasters located in Houston can access displays from two different radar sites. One is located at Patrick Air Force Base south of Cocoa Beach. The other is located in Melbourne at the National Weather Service and is a NEXRAD Doppler radar. Each radar provides rain intensity and cloud top information out to a distance as far as 200 nautical miles. The NEXRAD radar can also provide estimates of total rainfall and radial wind velocities.

Field Mill Network: Thirty-one advanced field mill sites around KSC and Cape Canaveral Air Station provide data on lightning activity and surface electric fields induced by charge aloft. This data helps forecasters determine when electric charge aloft may be sufficient to create triggered lightning during launch, and to determine when to issue and cancel lightning advisories and warnings.

Lightning Detection System: Detects and plots cloud to ground lightning strikes within 125 nautical miles of the Kennedy Space Center. Location accuracy is optimum within 30 nautical miles. Locations of strikes are color coded according to time of occurrence.

Lightning Detection And Ranging (LDAR): Developed by NASA at the Kennedy Space Center, LDAR plots intracloud, cloud to cloud and cloud to ground lightning in three dimensions within 100 nautical miles of the Kennedy Space Center. Location accuracy is very high within 25 nautical miles. LDAR data is important in determining the beginning and end of lightning conditions.

National Lightning Detection Network: Plots cloud to ground lightning nationwide. Used to help ensure safe transit of the Space Shuttle orbiter atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft between Edwards Air Force Base in California and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is also used to assess lightning beyond the 125 mile range of the Lightning Detection System.

Rawinsonde: A balloon with a tethered instrument package

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/weather_criteria5.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:40:30 AM] Current Status/Events - KSC Weather which radios its altitude to the ground together with temperature, dewpoint and humidity, wind speed and direction, and pressure data. Rawinsondes reach altitudes exceeding 100,000 feet.

Jimsphere balloon: A reflective balloon made of mylar tracked by radar which provides highly accurate information on wind speed and wind direction up to 60,000 feet.

Doppler Radar Wind Profiler: Measures upper level wind speed and direction over Kennedy Space Center from approximately 10,000 feet to 60,000 feet. The data, received every 5 minutes, is used to ensure the upper winds used to calculate wind loads on the shuttle vehicle have not significantly changed between balloon soundings. If data from the Doppler Radar Wind Profiler indicates a possible significant change, another Jimsphere balloon is released.

Rocketsonde: A 12-foot-tall instrumented rocket is launched on L-1 day which senses and transmits data on temperature, wind speed and direction, wind shear, pressure, and air density at altitudes between 65,000 feet and 370,000 feet. A four-inch in diameter solid rocket motor separates at an altitude of about 5,000 feet, after which an "instrumented dart" coasts to apogee.

Satellite Images and Data: Provided directly to the satellite terminal at USAF Range Weather Operations and NOAA National Weather Service Space Fflight Meteorology Group in Houston by the geostationary GOES weather satellites. In addition high resolution images are received from spacecraft in low earth orbit including both the NOAA and the Defense Meteorological Support Program (DMSP) polar orbiting satellites.

Meteorological Interactive Data Display System (MIDDS): Integrates diverse weather data on a single display terminal-- satellite images, radar, computer generated graphics of surface and upper air map features, numerical weather models, current weather observations, data from meteorological towers, lightning strikes and field mill information.

Towers: 33 meteorological towers are located on Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Station, including two at each launch pad and three at the Shuttle Landing Facility. In addition to wind, most towers are also instrumented with temperature, and moisture sensors. The 60-foot towers at the launch pads and the 33-foot towers at the Shuttle Landing Facility are closely monitored for launch and landing criteria. In addition, on the mainland, there is a network of 19 wind towers which extend outward an additional twenty miles. Tower data is an important short-term forecasting tool and also helps determine the direction and distance of toxic corridors in the event of a mishap.

Buoys: Meteorological buoys are anchored 20, 110 and 160

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/weather_criteria5.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:40:30 AM] Current Status/Events - KSC Weather nautical miles east-northeast of Cape Canaveral. These buoys relay hourly measurements via satellite of temperature, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, precipitation, sea water temperature, and wave height and period. Buoy data is used for launch, landing, booster retrieval, and daily ground processing forecasts for the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Station.

Solid Rocket Booster Retrieval Ships: These vessels radio observed weather conditions and sea state from the booster impact area located up to 150 nautical miles downrange.

Weather Reconnaissance Aircraft: A T-38 jet and the Shuttle Training Aircraft are flown by a weather support astronaut.

NASA News John F. Kennedy Space Center National Aeronautics and Kennedy Space Center, Florida 32899 Space Administration Oct. 26, 1998 KSC Release No. 130-98

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NASA's Weather Criteria

Clouds: (types known to contain hazardous electric fields)

Do not launch if any part of the planned flight path is through a layer of clouds any part of which is within 5 nautical miles is 4,500 feet thick or greater and the temperature of any part of the layer is between 32 degrees F. and -4 degrees F. Launch may occur if the cloud layer is a cirrus-like cloud that has never been associated with convective clouds, is located entirely at temperatures of 5 degrees F. or colder, and shows no evidence of containing water droplets.

Cirrus clouds are the most common of the High Cloud (5000-13000m) group. They are composed entirely of ice and consist of long, thin, wispy streamers. They are commonly known as "mare's tails" because of their appearance. Cirrus clouds are usually white and predict fair weather.

Image & caption courtesy of Windows to the Universe Photographed by Ronald L. Holle Click for full size version (89K GIF)

Do not launch through cumulus type clouds with tops higher than the 41 degree F. temperature level. Launch may occur through clouds as cold as 23 degrees F. if the cloud is not producing precipitation, and all field mills within 5 nautical miles of the flight path and at least one field mill within 2 nautical miles of the cloud center read between -100 volts per meter and +500 volts per meter.

Cumulus clouds belong to the Clouds with Vertical Growth group. They are puffy white or light gray clouds that look like floating cotton balls. Cumulus clouds have sharp outlines and a flat base. Cumulus clouds generally have a base height of 1000m and a width of 1km. Cumulus clouds can be associated with good or bad weather.

Image & caption courtesy of Windows to the Universe Photo by Angie J Venturato Click for full size version (52K JPG)

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1. through or within 5 nautical miles of the nearest edge of cumulus type clouds with tops higher than the 14 degree F level 2. through or within 10 nautical miles of the nearest edge of cumulus clouds with tops higher than the -4 degrees F. level.

Do not launch if the flight path is through any non-transparent clouds that extend to altitudes at or above the 32 degrees F. level which are associated with disturbed weather producing moderate or greater precipitation, or melting precipitation, within five nautical miles of the flight path.

Do not launch through an attached anvil cloud. If lightning occurs in the anvil or the associated main cloud, do not launch within 10 nautical miles for the first 30 minutes after lightning is observed, or within 5 nautical miles from 30 minutes to 3 hours after lightning is observed.

Do not launch if the flight path will carry the vehicle: . through non-transparent parts of a detached anvil for the first three hours after the anvil detaches from the parent cloud, or the first four hours after the last lightning occurs in the detached anvil.

b. within 10 nautical miles of non-transparent parts of a detached anvil for the first thirty minutes after the time of the last lightning in the parent or anvil cloud before detachment, or the detached anvil after its detachment.

c. within 5 nautical miles of non-transparent parts of a detached anvil for the first three hours after the time of the last lightning in the parent or anvil cloud before detachment, or the detached anvil after detachment, unless there is a field mill within 5 nautical miles of the detached anvil reading less than 1,000 volts per meter for the last 15 minutes and a maximum radar returns from any part of the detached anvil within 5 nautical miles of the flight path have been less than 10 dbz (light rain) for 15 minutes.

Do not launch if the flight path will carry the vehicle through a thunderstorm or cumulonimbus debris cloud which is not transparent and less than three hours old. Launch may not occur within five nautical miles of these debris clouds unless: 1. for 15 minutes preceding launch there is at least one working field mill within five nautical miles of the debris cloud 2. all electric field mill readings are between -1 kilovolt and + 1 kilovolt per meter within five nautical miles of the flight path 3. no precipitation has been detected in the debris cloud (less than 10 dbz by radar) within 5 nautical miles of the flight path.

Do not launch if the flight path will carry the vehicle through any cumulus cloud that has developed from a smoke plume while the cloud is attached to the plume, or for the first 60 minutes after the cumulus cloud detaches from the smoke plume.

Supporting Table:

KSC Seasonal Altitudes of Temperature Levels in thousands of feet

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/weather_criteria2.html (2 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:40:33 AM] Current Status/Events - KSC Weather January July Temp Low Avg High Temp Low Avg High (F) (Kft) (Kft) (Kft) (F) (Kft) (Kft) (Kft)

-4 21 24 26 -4 23 27 29 14 13 18 21 14 18 21 23 23 9 15 18 23 16 18 20 32 sfc 12 16 32 13 15 18 41 sfc 9 14 41 10 12 15

Range Safety Cloud Ceiling and Visibility constraints:

Direct visual observation of the Shuttle is required through 8,000 feet. This requirement may be satisfied using optical tracking sites or a forward observer

For cloud ceilings of any thickness between 6, 000 feet and 8,000 feet the following conditions must be met for launch to occur: . the vehicle integrity can be observed without interruption through 6,000 feet. b. all required Range Safety instrumentation is functioning properly c. the U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing Commander approves the decision to proceed

For cloud ceilings between 4,000 feet and 6,000 feet the following conditions must be met for launch to proceed: . the thickness of the clouds must be less than 500 feet b. the vehicle integrity can be monitored by the Eastern Range airborne and/or the ground forward observers through 8,000 feet c. all required Range Safety instrumentation is functioning properly d. the U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing Commander approves the decision to proceed

A "Good Sense Rule" is in effect for launch which states: "Even when constraints are not violated, if any other hazardous conditions exist, the launch weather officer will report the threat to the launch director. The launch director may hold at any time based on the instability of the weather."

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/graphics/lightning.jpg [5/24/1999 9:40:40 AM] Current Status/Events - Hot off the Press

Hot Off the Press NASA ANNOUNCES DELAY IN SHIPMENT OF CHANDRA OBSERVATORY

NASA today announced that it will delay this month's planned shipment of its Chandra X-ray Observatory from prime contractor TRW Space and Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, CA, to NASA's Kennedy Space Center , FL. The postponement will allow TRW to evaluate and correct a potential problem with several printed circuit boards in the observatory's command and data management system.

TRW notified NASA of the potential problem last week after another spacecraft being built by the company experienced a failure during testing that was attributed to similar printed circuit boards. The failed boards and those in Chandra were all made by BF Goodrich Aerospace, Davis Systems Div., Albuquerque, NM, in the same time frame in 1996. The problem has been traced to poor conductivity between different layers of the boards.

The boards are used in Chandra's main command and telemetry unit and four remote units. These units provide command and data communications links between the observatory's computer and subsystems.

NASA has directed TRW to remove and replace the boards in the main unit, and to conduct further tests and evaluation to determine if it is also necessary to replace the boards in the remote units. The repair, if limited to boards in the main command and telemetry unit, is expected to delay shipment to Kennedy by approximately one week. This will result in approximately a five-week slip in the observatory's launch readiness date, which will allow for integration and testing of the units at Kennedy. If boards in the remote units must also be replaced, a more extensive slip is anticipated.

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Hot Off the Press NASA NAMES NEXT SPACE X-RAY OBSERVATORY FOR NOTED INDIAN-AMERICAN ASTROPHYSICIST

NASA's Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility has been renamed the Chandra X-ray Observatory in honor of the late Indian-American Nobel laureate, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. The telescope is scheduled to be launched no earlier than April 8, 1999 aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-93, commanded by astronaut Eileen Collins.

Chandrasekhar, known to the world as Chandra, which means "moon" or "luminous" in Sanskrit, was a popular entry in a recent NASA contest to name the spacecraft. The contest drew more than six thousand entries from fifty states and sixty-one countries. The co-winners were a tenth grade student in Laclede, Idaho, and a high school teacher in Camarillo, CA.

The Chandra X-ray Observatory Center (CXC), operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, will control science and flight operations of the Chandra X-ray Observatory for NASA from Cambridge, Mass.

"Chandra is a highly appropriate name," said Harvey Tananbaum, Director of the CXC. "Throughout his life Chandra worked tirelessly and with great precision to further our understanding of the universe. These same qualities characterize the many individuals who have devoted much of their careers to building this premier x-ray observatory."

- more - - 2 -

"Chandra probably thought longer and deeper about our universe than anyone since Einstein," said Martin Rees, Great Britain's Astronomer Royal.

"Chandrasekhar made fundamental contributions to the theory of black holes and other phenomena that the Chandra X-ray Observatory will study. His life and work exemplify the excellence that we can hope to achieve with this great observatory," said NASA Administrator Dan Goldin.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/rename.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:40:43 AM] Current Status/Events - Hot off the Press Widely regarded as one of the foremost astrophysicists of the 20th century, Chandrasekhar won the Nobel Prize in 1983 for his theoretical studies of physical processes important to the structure and evolution of stars. He and his wife immigrated from India to the U.S. in 1935. Chandrasekhar served on the faculty of the University of Chicago until his death in 1995.

The Chandra X-ray Observatory will help astronomers worldwide better understand the structure and evolution of the universe by studying powerful sources of X rays such as exploding stars, matter falling into black holes and other exotic celestial objects. X-radiation is an invisible form of light produced by multimillion degree gas. Chandra will provide x-ray images that are fifty times more detailed than previous missions. At more than 45 feet in length and weighing more than five tons, it will be one of the largest objects ever placed in Earth orbit by the Space Shuttle.

Tyrel Johnson, a student at Priest River Lamanna High School in Priest River, Idaho, and Jatila van der Veen, a physics and astronomy teacher at Adolfo Camarillo High School in Camarillo, California, who submitted the winning name and essays, will receive a trip to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to view the launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, a prize donated by TRW.

Members of the contest's selection committee were Timothy Hannemann, executive vice president and general manager, TRW Space & Electronics Group; the late CNN correspondent John Holliman; former Secretary of the Air Force Sheila Widnall, professor of aeronautics at MIT; Charles Petit, senior writer for U.S. News & World Report; Sidney Wolff, Director, National Optical Astronomy Observatories; Martin Weisskopf, Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility project scientist, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL.; and Harvey Tananbaum, director of the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility Science Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA.

The Chandra X-ray Observatory program is managed by the Marshall Center for the Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. TRW Space and Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, CA, is NASA's prime contractor for the observatory. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations of the observatory for NASA from Cambridge, MA.

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Hot Off the Press

NASA DELAYS SHIPMENT OF X-RAY TELESCOPE TO KENNEDY SPACE CENTER TO ALLOW ADDITIONAL TESTING

NASA announced today it will delay shipment of the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) from the prime contractor, TRW Space and Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, CA, to Kennedy Space Center, FL. The postponement, made following a review by NASA and TRW, will allow additional time for TRW to complete testing of the observatory and to replace an electrical switching box. AXAF (pictured, above right) had been scheduled for shipment later this month to meet a Jan. 21, 1999, launch date.

NASA also has directed a review of AXAF, by NASA Chief Engineer Dr. Daniel Mulville to be completed by mid-January 1999. A new shipment date and a new launch date will be confirmed after the review.

"We think it's prudent to wait to see what the review will tell us before we set shipment and launch dates, so we don't expect to ship AXAF before that. It was a difficult decision, but we evaluated a number of options for handling the remaining work, and selected the one that will give us the most assurance of successfully completing the work," said Kenneth Ledbetter, Director of the Mission and Payload Division of the Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters.

The remaining testing includes trouble-shooting and de- bugging some elements of the ground test and flight software. In addition, testing will be done to verify changes made to the flight software.

"Our priority remains the safe and successful launch of a world-class observatory, which has been thoroughly tested and meets all requirements," said Fred Wojtalik, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Observatory Projects Office manager in Huntsville, AL. Marshall manages development of the observatory for the Office of Space Science.

Once in orbit, the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility will allow scientists from around the world to obtain unprecedented X-ray images of a variety of high-energy objects to help understand the structure and evolution of the universe. The observatory will not only help to probe these mysteries, but also

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/delay.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:40:49 AM] Current Status/Events - Hot off the Press will serve as a unique tool to study detailed physics in a laboratory that cannot be replicated here on Earth -- the universe itself.

-October 13, 1998

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Hot Off the Press SHUTTLE ASTRONAUTS VISIT NASA`S X-RAY OBSERVATORY OPERATIONS CONTROL CENTER IN CAMBRIDGE TO COORDINATE PLANS FOR LAUNCH.

-June 25, 1998

Eileen Collins, the first U.S. woman commander of a Space Shuttle mission and her fellow astronauts for NASA s STS-93 mission toured the Operations Control Center (OCC) for the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) today.

Cmdr. Ashby, Col. Collins

AXAF is scheduled for launch on January 26, 1999 aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. The astronauts met with the staff of the OCC and discussed how the status of the observatory will be monitored while in the shuttle bay and during deployment. "We are honored to have this historic shuttle crew visit us and familiarize themselves with the OCC," said Harvey Tananbaum, director of the AXAF Science Center, which operates the OCC for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory through a contract with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. "It is appropriate that a pathbreaking shuttle mission will deploy the premier X-ray observatory of this century."

AXAF is the third of NASA's Great Observatories along with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. It will observe in greater detail than ever before the hot, violent regions of the universe that cannot be seen with optical telescopes. Exploding stars, black holes and vast clouds of gas in galaxy clusters are among the fascinating objects that AXAF is designed to study. The satellite is currently in the final stages of testing at TRW Space and Electronics Group,the prime contractor, in Redondo Beach, California. In late August it will be flown aboard a specially-outfitted Air Force C-5 aircraft to Kennedy Space Center in Florida where it will be integrated with a Boeing booster and then installed in the Shuttle bay. The shuttle crew that will take AXAF into space includes Collins (Col., USAF), Jeffrey Ashby (Cmdr., USN), pilot; Steven Hawley, Ph.D., mission specialist; http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/status/astro_visit.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:40:54 AM] Current Status/Events - Hot off the Press Catherine Cady Coleman, Ph.D. (Major, USAF), mission specialist; and Michel Tognini (Col., French Air Force), mission specialist. While visiting the OCC the crew learned how critical data (temperatures, voltages, etc.,) will be monitored while AXAF is in the bay of the shuttle. This information will be relayed to the shuttle from the OCC via Johnson Space Center. The condition of the satellite during launch and the first few orbits will determine if it can be sent on its way. Unlike the Hubble Space telescope, AXAF will not be serviceable after it is in orbit. When the satellite has been released into space from the shuttle bay, a built in propulsion system will boost it into a large elliptical orbit around Earth. The nearest the observatory will come to Earth is 6,200 miles and its furthest point will be more than a third of the way to the moon. This means that the telescope will have approximately 52 hours of observing time each orbit. AXAF images will show fifty times more detail than any previous X-ray telescope. The revolutionary telescope combines the ability to make sharp images while measuring precisely the energies of X-rays coming from cosmic sources. The impact AXAF will have on X-ray astronomy can be compared to the difference between a fuzzy black and white and a sharp color picture.

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The Shuttle Columbia

Columbia (OV-102) was the first Space Shuttle launched into space. She has concluded 22 flights, flown 86 million miles, completed 3,286 orbits and spent 196 days in space as of April 17, 1998.

Learn about the components of the Space Shuttle, such as the rocket boosters and cargo bay, with NASA's clickable shuttle map. Tour Columbia's background information, including where her name originates and what missions she has participated in. Or, visit the Liftoff Space Academy, loaded with information on the Spacelab (the Shuttle's Laboratory In Space), being an Astronaut, and of course, the Space Shuttle.

Browse through our photo album of Shuttle Columbia on previous missions or read through some fun facts about the shuttle.

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/columbia.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:40:57 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Science Objectives

The Shuttle's Science Objectives

The primary objective of the STS-93 mission is to deploy the Chandra X-ray Observatory, but other payloads will be on board as well. The next Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment II (SAREX II) payload will be aboard, for example. This is the only scheduled SAREX mission for 1999. With the help of Amateur Radio clubs and ham radio operators, US astronauts can speak over the ham airwaves while in orbit. They talk directly with students, showing teachers, students, parents and communities how Amateur Radio energizes youngsters about science, technology, and learning. For more information, visit MSFC's SAREX web site.

Other payloads on board STS-93 include the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX), Shuttle Ionospheric Modification with Pulsed Local Exhaust (SIMPLEX), Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System (SWUIS), Gelation of Sols: Applied Microgravity Research (GOSAMR), Space Tissue Loss - B (STL-B), Light Weight Flexible Solar Array Hinge (LFSAH), Cell Culture Module (CCM), EarthKam, Plant Growth Investigations in Microgravity (PGIM), Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA), Micro-Electrical Mechanical System (MEMS), and the Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC)

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The Astronauts: STS-93 Crew

Eileen Collins (CDR), Jeff Ashby (PLT), Steve Hawley (MS), Cady Coleman (MS), Michel Tognini (MS)

Commander: Col. Eileen Collins, USAF, NASA Pilot: Cmdr. Jeff Ashby, USN, NASA Mission Specialist: Dr. Steven Hawley, NASA Mission Specialist: Dr. Cady Coleman, Maj. USAF, NASA Mission Specialist: Col. Michel Tognini, AAF, CNES

STS-93 Crew with a model of the Chandra spacecraft. Click to enlarge (photo: NASA)

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/astronauts.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:41:05 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts

STS-93 crew takes part in a Crew Equipment Interface Test. Upside down: Cady Coleman. From Left: Eileen Collins, Jeff Ashby, Michel Tognini. Click to enlarge (photo: NASA/KSC)

More NASA/KSC Photos of STS-93

Visit the official NASA Astronaut Web site to learn about the career of an Astronaut. Find interesting information including biographies and images that describe the intriguing explorations of space travelers!

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/astronauts.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:41:05 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Collins

The Astronauts

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058

NAME: Eileen Marie Collins (Colonel, USAF) NASA Astronaut PERSONAL DATA: Born November 19, 1956, in Elmira, New York. Married to Pat Youngs, originally from San Antonio, Texas. They have one child. She enjoys running, golf, hiking, camping, reading, photography, astronomy. Her parents are James and Rose Marie Collins, from Elmira, New York. His parents are Pat and Jackie Youngs, from San Antonio, Texas. EDUCATION: Graduated from Elmira Free Academy, Elmira, New York, in 1974; received an associate in science degree in mathematics/science from Corning Community College in 1976; a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics and economics from Syracuse University in 1978; a master of science degree in operations research from Stanford University in 1986; and a master of arts degree in space systems management from Webster University in 1989. ORGANIZATIONS: Member of the Air Force Association, Order of Daedalians, Women Military Aviators, U.S. Space Foundation, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Ninety-Nines. SPECIAL HONORS: Awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Air Force Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for service in Grenada (Operation Urgent Fury, October 1983), and the NASA Space Flight Medal. EXPERIENCE:

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/collins.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:41:07 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Collins Collins graduated in 1979 from Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance AFB, Oklahoma, where she was a T-38 instructor pilot until 1982. From 1983 to 1985, she was a C-141 aircraft commander and instructor pilot at Travis AFB, California. She spent the following year as a student with the Air Force Institute of Technology. From 1986 to 1989, she was assigned to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, where she was an assistant professor in mathematics and a T-41 instructor pilot. She was selected for the astronaut program while attending the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, California, from which she graduated in 1990. She has logged over 5,000 hours in 30 different types of aircraft. NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in January 1990, Collins became an astronaut in July 1991. Initially assigned to Orbiter engineering support, she has also served on the astronaut support team responsible for Orbiter prelaunch checkout, final launch configuration, crew ingress/egress, landing/recovery, worked in Mission Control as a spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) for numerous shuttle missions, and served as the Astronaut Office Spacecraft Systems Branch Chief. A veteran of two space flights, Collins has logged over 419 hours in space. She served as pilot on STS-63 (February 2-11, 1995) and STS-84 (May 15-24, 1997). Collins is the first woman assigned as a Space Shuttle Commander. She will command the crew of STS-93 on a 5-day mission aboard Space Shuttle Columbia. STS-93 will highlight the deployment of the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility Imaging System (Chandra). Designed to conduct comprehensive studies of the universe, Chandra will enable scientists to study exotic phenomena such as exploding stars, quasars, and black holes. STS-93 is scheduled for launch in January 1999. SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-63 (February 2-11, 1995) was the first flight of the new joint Russian-American Space Program. Mission highlights included the rendezvous with the Russian Space Station Mir, operation of Spacehab, the deployment and retrieval of an astronomy satellite, and a space walk. Collins' first mission was accomplished in 129 orbits, traveling over 2.9 million miles in 198 hours, 29 minutes. She was the first woman pilot of a Space Shuttle. STS-84 (May 15-24, 1997) was NASA's sixth Shuttle mission to rendezvous and dock with the Russian Space Station Mir. During the flight, the crew conducted a number of secondary experiments and transferred nearly 4 tons of supplies and experiment equipment between Atlantis and the Mir station. In completing this 9-day mission, she traveled 3.8 million miles in 145 orbits of the Earth logging a total of 221 hours and 20 minutes in space. SEPTEMBER 1998 http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/collins.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:41:07 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Collins

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/graphics/collins.jpg [5/24/1999 9:41:09 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Kid's Projects

Kid's Projects

Chandra's Interactive Games - for young and old kids alike, we have interactive games including: ● Crossword Puzzles ● Puzzling Pictures ● Concentration Games ● Spacey Word Searches and More!

Kids Space - for young astronomers, sponsored by Marshall Space Flight Center - has interactive games for kids including: ● Puzzles & Spacey Word Finds ● Kid Quiz ● How old are you on Mars? ● Kid's Space Art Gallery

The Space Place - for young astronomers, sponsored by JPL, Caltech and NASA, among others, includes: ● Make Spacey Things - crafts you can make yourself! ● Do Spacey Things - printable games! ● Dr. Marc's Amazing Facts

KidSat Earth Kam - See the planet Earth from space, as the astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle see it! This program - sponsored by NASA's Education Division - provides lots of exciting pictures of the earth and other planets in the solar system.

NEW! Try Macromedia's Shock Rave site for a fun, interactive Shuttle Columbia http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/kids.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:41:13 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Kid's Projects jigsaw puzzle. (Requires Shockwave - a free plugin from Macromedia. Download it today!)

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/kids.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:41:13 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Crossword Puzzle

Crossword Puzzle

(java enhanced - best if viewed with Netscape/Internet Explorer 4 or above)

1. Roll your mouse over the columns of words. A clue will appear on the left side of the puzzle. Left click your mouse to get a cursor so you can type your word (on a PC; on a Mac, just hold down your mouse button).

2. If you are in a space where you can either type a word across or down, you must type the "a" key to answer the across word or the "d" key to answer the down word first.

3. If you want to check your answer after you have typed in your word, just click "CHECK ANSWERS." The incorrect letters will appear in green.

More detailed directions, including point scoring.

More Challenging Crosswords (in our Education section)

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/crossword/index.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:41:14 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Crossword Puzzle

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Revised: 02/22/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/crossword/index.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:41:14 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Crossword Puzzle

Crossword Puzzle

(java enhanced - best if viewed with Netscape/Internet Explorer 4 or above)

4. You will receive 10 points for each correct letter. However, you will lose 15 points for each letter you cheat on! To continue to a new puzzle, you must have at least 40 points or have correctly answered all the clues.

5. If you get stuck on a word, you can always cheat (but you have to have enough points!).

6. If you finish a puzzle and you still want more, just hit the "NEW PUZZLE" button. It will keep generating new puzzles until you have exhausted all of our words. Then you can start again. The puzzles are never the same!

Hint: If you haven't read the articles, you might have trouble finishing a puzzle.

Play the puzzle!.

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Revised: 02/22/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/crossword/directions.html [5/24/1999 9:41:16 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Word Search

Word Search

(java enhanced - best if viewed with Netscape/Internet Explorer 4 or above)

To circle a discovered word, mouse-click on one end of the word and mouse-drag to the other end of the word. Words may be hidden horizontally, vertically, diagonally, forward, or backward.

More Spacey Word Searches (in our Education section)

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/wordsearch/index.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:41:20 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Word Search

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Revised: 02/22/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/wordsearch/index.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:41:20 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Ashby

The Astronauts

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058

NAME: Jeffrey S. Ashby (Commander, USN) NASA Astronaut PERSONAL DATA: Born June 16, 1954 in Dallas, Texas. Raised in the Colorado mountains. Not married. Recreational interests include skiing, backpacking, fly fishing. EDUCATION: Graduated from Evergreen High School, Evergreen, Colorado in 1972. Bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Idaho, 1976. Master of science degree in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee, 1993. SPECIAL HONORS: Distinguished Flying Cross, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Air Medals (4), Navy Commendation Medals (2), Navy Achievement Medal, and numerous Unit decorations. Navy Attack Aviator of the Year, 1991. EXPERIENCE: Ashby has accumulated over 6000 flight hours and 1000 carrier landings. He is a graduate of the Naval Test Pilot School (1988) and the Naval Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun, 1986). During his 16 year tenure as a fleet Navy pilot, Ashby completed five carrier deployments, flying A-7E and FA-18 aircraft from the USS CONSTELLATION, USS CORAL SEA, USS MIDWAY, and USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN. He has flown missions in support of Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Southern Watch in Iraq, and Operation Continue Hope in Somalia. Ashby successfully completed 33 combat missions in the FA-18 during Operation Desert Storm. http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/ashby.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:41:23 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Ashby

As a Navy test pilot, Ashby participated in the early development of the FA-18 aircraft, directing and flying tests of its smart weapons systems and electronic warfare suite. He has flown test flights for over 80 projects including carrier suitability, ordnance release, and flying qualities of the Night attack and reconnaissance versions of the Hornet. In his final operational Navy tour, Ashby served as the Commanding Officer of Strike Fighter Squadron 94. NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in December 1994, Ashby reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995. In his most recent technical assignment he served as an assistant to the Director, Flight Crew Operations. Ashby will serve as pilot on the crew of STS-93 scheduled for launch aboard Space Shuttle Columbia in January 1999. The 5-day mission will feature the deployment of the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (Chandra). Chandra will enable scientists to conduct comprehensive studies of exotic phenomena in our universe including exploding stars, quasars, and black holes. SEPTEMBER 1998

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/graphics/ashby.jpg [5/24/1999 9:41:25 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Hawley

The Astronauts

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058

NAME: Steven A. Hawley (Ph.D.) NASA Astronaut PERSONAL DATA: Born December 12, 1951, in Ottawa, Kansas, but considers Salina, Kansas, to be his hometown. Married to the former Eileen M. Keegan of Redondo Beach, California. He enjoys basketball, softball, golf, running, playing bridge, and umpiring. His parents, Dr. and Mrs. Bernard Hawley, reside in Surprise, Arizona. Her mother, Mrs. Jo Keegan, resides in Houston, Texas. EDUCATION: Graduated from Salina (Central) High School, Salina, Kansas, in 1969; received bachelor of arts degrees in physics and astronomy (graduating with highest distinction) from the University of Kansas in 1973, and a doctor of philosophy in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of California in 1977. ORGANIZATIONS: Member of the American Astronomical Society, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Sigma Pi Sigma, and Phi Beta Kappa. SPECIAL HONORS: Evans Foundation Scholarship, 1970; University of Kansas Honor Scholarship, 1970; Summerfield Scholarship, 1970-1973; Veta B. Lear Award, 1970; Stranathan Award, 1972; Outstanding Physics Major Award, 1973; University of California Regents Fellowship, 1974; Group Achievement Award for software testing at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory, 1981; NASA Outstanding Performance Award, 1981; NASA Superior Performance Award, 1981; Group Achievement

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/hawley.html (1 of 5) [5/24/1999 9:41:28 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Hawley Award for Second Orbiter Test and Checkout at Kennedy Space Center, 1982; Quality Increase, 1982; NASA Space Flight Medal (1984, 1986, 1990, 19977); Group Achievement Award for JSC Strategic Planning, 1987; NASA Exceptional Service Medal, 1988; Special Achievement Award, 1988; Exceptional Service Medal for Return to Flight, 1988; NASA Space Flight Medal, 1990; Outstanding Leadership Medal, 1990; Special Achievement Award, 1990; Exceptional Service Medal, 1991; Haley Flight Achievement Award, 1991; Kansan of the Year Award, 1992; Group Achievement Award for ESIG 3000 Integration Project, 1994; Presidential Rank Award, 1994; Group Achievement Award for Space Shuttle Program Functional Workforce Review, 1995; Group Achievement Award for SFOC Contract Acquisition, 1997; NASA Space Flight Medal, 1997; Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame, 1997; Kansas University Distinguished Service Citation, 1998; NASA Distinguished Service Medal, 1998; Aviation Week and Space Technology Laural Citation for Space, 1998. EXPERIENCE: Hawley attended the University of Kansas, majoring in physics and astronomy. He spent three summers employed as a research assistant: 1972 at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., and 1973 and 1974 at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia. He attended graduate school at Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz. His research involved spectrophotometry of gaseous nebulae and emission-line galaxies with particular emphasis on chemical abundance determinations for these objects. The results of his research have been published in major astronomical journals. Prior to his selection by NASA in 1978, Hawley was a post-doctoral research associate at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in La Serena, Chile. NASA EXPERIENCE: Dr. Hawley was selected as a NASA astronaut in January 1978. Prior to STS-1, he served as a simulator pilot for software checkout at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL). For STS-2, STS-3, and STS-4, he was a member of the astronaut support crew at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, for Orbiter test and checkout, and also served as prime close-out crewman for STS-3 and STS-4. During 1984-1985, he was Technical Assistant to the Director, Flight Crew Operations. From 1987-1990, he was the Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office. In June 1990, he left the Astronaut Office to assume the post of Associate Director of NASA's Ames Research Center in California. In August 1992, he returned to the Johnson Space Center as Deputy Director of Flight Crew Operations. Dr. Hawley was returned to astronaut flight status in February 1996. He served on the second Hubble Space Telescope mission and returned to duty as Deputy Director, Flight Crew Operations. A veteran of four space flights (STS-41D in 1984, STS-61C in 1986, STS-31 in 1990 and STS-82 in 1997), Dr. Hawley has logged 27 days in space. In March 1998, Dr. Hawley was named to the crew of http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/hawley.html (2 of 5) [5/24/1999 9:41:28 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Hawley STS-93 on a 5-day mission aboard Space Shuttle Columbia. STS-93 will feature the deployment of the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility Imaging System (Chandra), the third element in NASA's Great Observatories program. Designed to conduct comprehensive studies of the universe, Chandra will enable scientists study exotic phenomena such as exploding stars, quasars, and black holes. STS-93 is scheduled for launch in January 1999. SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: A veteran of four space flights, Dr. Hawley has logged a total of 651 hours and 37 minutes in space. He served as a mission specialist on STS-41D in 1984, STS-61C in 1986, STS-31 in 1990 and STS-82 in 1997. STS-41D launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 30, 1984. Crew members included Hank Hartsfield (spacecraft commander), Mike Coats (pilot), Judy Resnik and Mike Mullane (mission specialists), and Charlie Walker (payload specialist). This was the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery. During the 7-day mission the crew successfully activated the OAST-1 solar cell wing experiment, deployed the SBS-D, SYNCOM IV-2, and TELSTAR 3-C satellites, operated the CFES-III experiment, the student crystal growth experiment, as well as photography experiments using the IMAX motion picture camera. STS-41D completed 96 orbits of the Earth in 144 hours and 57 minutes before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on September 5, 1984. STS-61C launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on January 12, 1986. Crew members included Robert "Hoot" Gibson (spacecraft commander), Charles Bolden (pilot), Franklin Chang-Díaz and George "Pinky" Nelson (mission specialists), Robert Cenker of RCA, and Congressman Bill Nelson (payload specialists). During the 6-day flight of Columbia the crew deployed the SATCOM KU satellite and conducted experiments in astrophysics and materials processing. Mission duration was 146 hours and 03 minutes. STS-61C made a successful night landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on January 18, 1986. STS-31 launched on April 24, 1990, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery included Loren Shriver (spacecraft commander), Charlie Bolden (pilot), Bruce McCandless and Kathy Sullivan (mission specialists). During the 5-day mission, crew members deployed the Hubble Space Telescope, and conducted a variety of middeck experiments involving the study of protein crystal growth, polymer membrane processing, and the effects of weightlessness and magnetic fields on an ion arc. They also operated a variety of cameras, including both the IMAX in-cabin and cargo bay cameras, for Earth observations from their record-setting altitude of 380 miles. Following 76 orbits of the earth in 121 hours, Discovery landed at

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/hawley.html (3 of 5) [5/24/1999 9:41:28 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Hawley Edwards Air Force Base, California, on April 29, 1990. STS-82, the second Hubble Space Telescope (HST) maintenance mission, launched at night on February 11 and returned to a night landing at Kennedy Space Center on February 21, 1997. During the flight, Dr. Hawley's primary role was to operate the Shuttle's 50-foot robot arm to retrieve and redeploy the HST following completion of upgrades and repairs. Dr. Hawley also operated the robot arm during five space walks in which two teams installed two new spectrometers and eight replacement instruments. They also replaced insulation patches over three compartments containing key data processing, electronics and scientific instrument telemetry packages. HST was then redeployed and boosted to a higher orbit. The flight was completed in 149 orbits covering 3.8 million miles in 9 days, 23 hours, 37 minutes. SEPTEMBER 1998

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/graphics/hawley.jpg [5/24/1999 9:41:30 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Coleman

The Astronauts

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058

NAME: Catherine G. "Cady" Coleman, Ph.D. (Major, USAF) NASA Astronaut PERSONAL DATA: Born December 14, 1960, in Charleston, South Carolina. Married. Enjoys flying, scuba diving, sports, music. As an undergraduate, she competed in intercollegiate athletics on MIT's crew team. Her father, James J. Coleman, resides in Vancouver, Washington. Her mother, Ann L. Doty, resides in Westerly, Rhode Island. EDUCATION: Graduated from W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, Virginia, in 1978; received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983, and a doctorate in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts in 1991. ORGANIZATIONS: Member of the American Chemical Society, the Society for Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), the American Association of University Women, and the International Womens' Air and Space Museum. EXPERIENCE: Coleman was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Air Force in 1983 and began graduate work at the University of Massachusetts. Her research focused on polymer synthesis using the olefin metathesis reaction, and polymer surface modification. In 1988, Coleman entered active duty and was assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. As a research chemist at the Materials Directorate of the Wright Laboratory, she synthesized model compounds to investigate the use of organic

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/coleman.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:41:32 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Coleman polymers for third-order nonlinear optical applications such as advanced computers and data storage. Coleman also acted as a surface analysis consultant for the Long Duration Exposure Facility (launched from STS 41-C in 1984 and retrieved during STS-32 in 1990). In addition to assigned duties, Coleman was a volunteer test subject for the centrifuge program at the Crew Systems Directorate of the Armstrong Aeromedical Laboratory. She set several endurance and tolerance records during her participation in physiological and new equipment studies. NASA EXPERIENCE: Coleman was selected by NASA in March 1992 and reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1992. Initially assigned to the Astronaut Office Mission Support Branch and detailed to flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory, Coleman subsequently served as the special assistant to the Center Director, Johnson Space Center. She trained as STS-83 backup mission specialist to Dr. Don Thomas when he suffered a broken right ankle following the conclusion of a routine training exercise. She served in the Astronaut Office Payloads and Habitability Branch, working with experiment designers to insure that payloads can be operated successfully in the microgravity environment of low earth orbit. She also served as the lead astronaut for long term space flight habitability issues such as accoustics and living accommodations aboard the International Space Station. She was a mission specialist on STS-73 (Oct. 20 to Nov. 5, 1995), and has logged over 381 hours in space. Coleman will serve on the crew of STS-93 on a 5-day mission aboard Space Shuttle Columbia. STS-93 will highlight the deployment of the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility Imaging System (Chandra). Designed to conduct comprehensive studies of the universe, Chandra will enable scientists to study exotic phenomena such as exploding stars, quasars, and black holes. STS-93 is scheduled for launch in January 1999. SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-73 Columbia (October 20 to November 5, 1995), was the second United States Microgravity Laboratory mission. The mission focused on materials science, biotechnology, combustion science, the physics of fluids, and numerous scientific experiments housed in the pressurized Spacelab module. In completing her first space flight, Coleman orbited the Earth 256 times, traveled over 6 million miles, and logged a total of 15 days, 21 hours, 52 minutes and 21 seconds in space. SEPTEMBER 1998

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/graphics/coleman.jpg [5/24/1999 9:41:34 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Tognini

The Astronauts

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058

NAME: Michel Tognini (Colonel, French Air Force) CNES Astronaut PERSONAL DATA: Born September 30, 1949, in Vincennes, France. Married to the former Elena Vassilievna. Four children. Hobbies include Aeroclub, parachuting and parapenting, tennis, wind-surfing, water-skiing, snow-skiing, cross-country running, wave-surfing, microcomputers. Michel's parents, Jean and Ginette Tognini, reside in Paris, France. Elena's parents reside in Chtchiolkovo III, near Star City, Russia. EDUCATION: Tognini was educated at Lycee de Cachan, Paris. Received an advanced mathematics degree in 1970 from Epa Grenoble (military school). He enrolled at Ecole de l'Air,(the French Air Force Academy), Salon de Provence, France, graduating with an engineering degree in 1973. Tognini attended the Empire Test Pilots School, Boscombe Down, United Kingdom, in 1982, and the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Defense Nationale (IHEDN) in 1993-94. SPECIAL HONORS: French Aeronautics Medal; Chevalier de Ordre National du Mérite; Officier dans l'Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur; Soviet Order of Friendship between the People; Russian Order of Friendship between the People. QUALIFICATIONS: Engineer from the "Ecole de l'Air." Fighter Pilot (all levels). Test Pilot. Airline Pilot. Military Technical Diploma (BTEM). Cosmonaut Diploma from the Soviet Union. EXPERIENCE: Following graduation in 1973 from the Ecole de l'Air, Tognini was

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/tognini.html (1 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:41:36 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Tognini posted to advanced fighter pilot training at squadron based at Normandie-Neman where he served for one year before obtaining his advanced fighter pilot training. From 1974-1981, he served as an operational fighter pilot in French Air Force (Cambrai Air Base), at the 12th Escadre de Chasse, flying SMB2 and Mirage F1 aircraft. During this tour of duty he served as flight leader in 1976, and flight commander in 1979. In 1982, he was admitted to the Empire Test Pilot School in Boscombe Down, United Kingdom, and later that year was awarded his test pilot diploma. He was awarded his military studies diploma in 1983. Tognini was then posted to the Cazaux Flight Test Center, France, initially as a test pilot and subsequently as chief test pilot. During his time there, he helped test a great deal of French flight hardware. He did the weapon systems testing for the Mirage 2000-C, Mirage 2000-N, Jaguar ATLIS, and FLIR aircraft, and was also responsible for flight safety for pilots, experimenters and flight engineers. In 1985, France opened a recruitment program to expand its astronaut corps, and Tognini was one of seven finalists selected in September 1985. In July 1986, he was one of four candidates to undergo medical examinations in Moscow. In August 1986, he was assigned as the back-up for the Soyuz TM-7 mission. Although Tognini remained a French Air Force officer, he was placed on detachment to CNES for his space flight activities from September 1986 onwards. In November 1986 he reported to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Star City, Russia, for alternate astronaut training, including EVA, for the Soviet-French ARAGATZ mission. During 1989-1990 he supported the HERMES program in Toulouse, France. In 1991 he returned to Star City, Russia, to start prime crew training for the 3rd Soviet-French ANTARES mission. During his stay in Russia Tognini also gained piloting experience of BURAN simulators (MIG 25, TUPOLEV 154). Tognini has 4000 flight hours on 80 types of aircraft (mainly fighter aircraft including MIG 25, TUPOLEV 154, LIGHTNING MK 3 and MK 5, METEOR, and F 104). He is fluent in English and Russian. Tognini made his first space flight on board the Soyuz TM-15, TM-14 (July 27 to August 10, 1992). Together with Anatoly Solovyev and Sergei Avdeiev he linked up with Mir 1 (ANTARES mission) and joined the crew of Alexandre Viktorenko and Alexandre Kaleri already on board. They spent 14 days carrying out a program of joint Soviet-French experiments before returning to Earth. He returned to France following the mission. During 1993-94, he attended a training cycle of the French Institute for High Studies of National Defense (IHEDN). PUBLICATIONS: Use of new systems for future aircraft (classified report, 70p). Boscombe Down Preview on Lightning Mk III (report, 300p). The SOYUZ spacecraft system (CNES report, 150p).

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/tognini.html (2 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:41:36 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Tognini NASA EXPERIENCE: Tognini attended ASCAN Training at the Johnson Space Center during 1995. He was initially assigned to the Operations Planning Branch of the Astronaut Office working technical issues on the International Space Station. Tognini will fly aboard Space Shuttle Columbia as a member of the STS-93 crew. During the 5-day mission the crew will deploy the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility Imaging System (Chandra) which will conduct comprehensive studies of the universe. Launch is targeted for January 1999. SEPTEMBER 1998

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/tognini.html (3 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:41:36 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - About the Astronauts - Tognini

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Revised: 12/07/98

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Images of Columbia

Click on the thumbnails to view the full size image

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., October 9, 1996 -- The Space Shuttle Columbia at the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) waiting for the upcoming STS-80 mission.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., October 9, 1996 -- The orbiter Columbia arrived at Launch Pad 39B, ending the journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building earlier in the morning.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., November 19, 1996 -- The Shuttle Columbia climbs into orbit from Launch Pad 39B at 2:55:47 p.m. EST for Mission STS-80.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., November 19, 1996 -- Columbia embarks on a diversified mission of astronomy, commercial space research and International Space Station preparation (STS-80).

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., April 4, 1997 -- Orbiter Columbia stands poised in the night for the STS-83 mission.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. April 4, 1997 -- Like a rising sun lighting up the afternoon sky, the Space Shuttle Columbia soars from Launch Pad 39A at 2:20:32 p.m. EST, April 4, on the 16-day Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) mission.

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All photographs/descriptions provided by NASA. Visit the complete Nasa/Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Photo & Video Archive at http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/photos/

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 01/04/99

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/graphics/columbia/97-573.jpg [5/24/1999 9:42:01 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Shuttle Columbia Images

Images of Columbia

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. April 8, 1997 -- The Space Shuttle Columbia touches down on Runway 33 at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility at 2:33:11 p.m. EST, concluding the Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) mission.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., July 1, 1997 -- Shuttle Columbia lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at 2:02 p.m. EST July 1 beginning the 16-day STS-94 Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) mission.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., March 23, 1998 -- Space Shuttle Columbia in preparation for the STS-90 mission, a 17-day space flight. Investigations during the Neurolab mission focused on the effects of microgravity on the nervous system.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., March 23, 1998 -- Space Shuttle Columbia makes its way up the ramp to Launch Pad 39B in its morning rollout in preparation for mission STS-90.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., March 23, 1998 -- The Space Shuttle Columbia arrives at the top of Launch Pad 39B prior to STS-90. The white room of the Orbiter Access Arm where astronauts suit up for launch can be seen to the left of the orbiter.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/columbia_images2.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:04 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Shuttle Columbia Images

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., April 17, 1998 -- Framed by native Floridian foliage, the Space Shuttle Columbia soars from Launch Pad 39B at 2:19 p.m. EDT Apr. 17 to begin the nearly 17-day STS-90 Neurolab mission.

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All photographs/descriptions provided by NASA. Visit the complete Nasa/Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Photo & Video Archive at http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/photos/

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 01/14/99

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/graphics/columbia/98pc-501.jpg [5/24/1999 9:42:11 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Shuttle Columbia Images

Images of Columbia

Click on the thumbnails to view the full size image

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., June 4, 1997 -- Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia is reflected in a nearby pond as it rolls over to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) from Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) 1 atop its transporter in preparation for the STS-94 mission..

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., July 1, 1997 -- The Space Shuttle Columbia soars from Launch Pad 39A at 2:02 p.m. EDT to begin the 16-day STS-94 Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) mission.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., July 1,1997 -- The Shuttle Columbia climbs into orbit from Launch Pad 39A against a backdrop of clear blue sky.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., July 16, 1997 -- With its drag chute deployed, the Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia touches down on Runway 33 at KSCs Shuttle Landing Facility at 6:46:34 a.m. EDT

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA., July 16, 1997 -- A side view of Shuttle Columbia Landing at KSC with the sunrise behind it

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All photographs/descriptions provided by NASA. Visit the complete Nasa/Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Photo & Video Archive at http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/columbia_images3.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:14 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Shuttle Columbia Images http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/photos/

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Revised: 02/17/99

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/graphics/columbia/KSC-97EC-1052.jpg (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:27 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Shuttle Fun Facts

SHUTTLE FUN FACTS

● It takes only about eight minutes for the Space Shuttle to accelerate to a speed of more than 17,000 miles (27,358 kilometers) per hour.

● The Space Shuttle main engine weighs 1/7th as much as a train engine but delivers as much horsepower as 39 locomotives.

● The turbopump on the Space Shuttle main engine is so powerful it could drain an average family-sized swimming pool in 25 seconds.

● The Space Shuttle's three main engines and two solid rocket boosters generate some 7.3 million pounds (3.3 million kilograms) of thrust at liftoff. Compare that with America's first two manned launch vehicles, the Redstone which produced 78,000 pounds (35,381 kilograms) of thrust, and the Atlas, which produced 360,000 pounds (163, 926 kilograms).

● The liquid hydrogen in the Space Shuttle main engine is -423 degrees Fahrenheit (-253 degrees Centigrade), the second coldest liquid on Earth, and when burned with liquid oxygen, the temperature in the engine's combustion chamber reaches +6,000 degrees F. (+3,316 degrees C.)

● The energy released by the three Space Shuttle main engines is equivalent to the output of 23 Hoover Dams.

● Each of the Shuttle's solid rocket motors burns 5 tons (5,080 kilograms) of propellant per second, a total of 1.1 million pounds (500,000 kilograms) in 120 seconds. The speed of the gases exiting the nozzle is more than 6,000 miles (9,656 kilometers) per hour, about five times the speed of sound or three times the speed of a high-powered rifle bullet. The plume of flame ranges up to 500 feet (152 meters) long.

● The combustion gases in a solid rocket motor are at a temperature of 6,100 degrees Fahrenheit (3,371 degrees Centigrade), two-thirds the temperature of the surface of the sun. While that temperature is hot enough to boil steel, special insulation inside the motor protects the steel case so well that the outside of the case reaches only about 130 degrees F. (54 degrees C.).

● A stacked booster is the same height as the Statue of Liberty (not including pedestal) -- 151 feet (46 meters) -- but weighs almost three times as much.

● The four engines of a Boeing 747 jet produce 188,000 pounds (85,277 kilograms) of thrust, while just one SRM produces more than 17 times as much thrust -- 3.3 million pounds (1.5 million kilograms). A pair of SRM's are more powerful than 35 jumbo jets at takeoff.

● If their heat energy could be converted to electric power, two SRMs firing for two minutes would produce 2.2 million kilowatt hours of power, enough to supply the entire power demand of 87,000 homes for a full day.

● The Shuttle's Remote Manipulator System (RMS), or robot arm, provided by the Canadian Space Agency, weighs about 905 pounds (411 kilograms) on Earth but can move cargo in space weighing 66,000 pounds (29,938 kilograms), objects about the size of a Greyhound bus.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/fun_facts.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:28 AM] The Shuttle's Mission - Shuttle Fun Facts

Reproduced with permission by Curator: Kay Grinter ([email protected]) / Sherikon Space Systems - A service of NASA/Kennedy Space Center Public Affairs Office.

Browse through other Space Shuttle factoids at http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/factoids/shfacts.htm

Launch Home | Public Information | Chandra Home | Naming Contest

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/22/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/launch/shuttle/fun_facts.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:28 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory: AXAF Naming Contest

The AXAF name contest attracted 6,000 entries from fifty states and sixty-one countries! The many imaginative and intriguing entries we received presented our panels with a challenging task. All entrants of the winning name received recognition as did selected entries of other outstanding name submissions. The winning name and essays and the runner-up names and essays were decided by a final elite panel that included prominent scientists, a space science executive, and nationally recognized science reporters. Thank you for your participation!

[ Co-Winners ] [ Runners-Up ] [ Honorable Mentions ]

[ Chandra: The Man Behind the Name ]

Keep watch on our public information home page for the stunning new X-ray pictures of the universe that the CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY will provide. The launch is scheduled for 1999.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/contest/contest.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:33 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory: AXAF Naming Contest

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/17/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/contest/contest.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:33 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory: AXAF Naming Contest

Select Panel

The winning name and essays were selected by a "blue ribbon" committee consisting of: Timothy Hannemann, executive vice president and general manager, TRW Space & Electronics Group; the late CNN correspondent John Holliman; former Secretary of the Air Force Sheila Widnall, professor of aeronautics at MIT; Charles Petit, senior writer for U.S. News & World Report; Sidney Wolff, Director, National Optical Astronomy Observatories; Martin Weisskopf, Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility project scientist, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL.; and Harvey Tananbaum, director of the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility Science Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA.

[ Co-Winners ] [ Runners-Up ] [ Honorable Mentions ] [ Contest Home ]

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 01/21/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/contest/panel.html [5/24/1999 9:42:34 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory: AXAF Naming Contest

And the co-winners are...

ENTRY: CHANDRA NAME: Tyrel Johnson (Student)

I am submitting, as the name for the new Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, (AXAF), "Chandrasekhar." This name is in honor of the great physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Chandrasekhar calculated the maximum mass for a white dwarf star and the increase in electron degeneracy pressure as a white dwarf star contracts under gravity, and he did it all on a Brunsviga calculator over a period of about four or five months. He is also famous for his work on black hole perturbations and has written a book entitled "The Mathematical Theory of Black Holes," with which anyone should be able to make calculations for any black hole perturbations they desire. Chandrasekhar was also a co-winner of the 1983 Nobel prize in physics for work on the death of stars. He has also contributed to our understanding of pulsating stars. Chandrasekhar's proof of a maximum mass for white dwarf stars first led scientists to really look for other stellar graveyards, neutron stars, and led to the inevitable conclusion that implosion is compulsory and the discovery of black holes. In addition, Chandrasekhar provided the first mathematical proof that not all stars die a white dwarf "death."

ENTRY: CHANDRA NAME: Jatila van der Veen

I propose the name of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who is famous for the Chandrasekhar Limit of 1.4 solar masses as the greatest mass possible for a white dwarf star. He was a courageous pioneer in astrophysics, and passed away just a few years ago. His name has not been used on any of the satellites you list. Chandra means moon in Sanskrit; it is depicted in the hand gestures of BharataNatyam, the classical dance of South India, as a crescent moon, and is also used to indicate the passage of time as shown by the changing phases of the moon. I think this connotation, as well as being part of the name of a very prominent astrophysicist whose research on high energy astrophysical phenomena was crucial to our understanding of neutron stars and black holes, makes Chandra an appropriate name for the AXAF satellite.

More on Chandrasekhar & the Chandra Xray Observatory

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/contest/co_winners.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:36 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory: AXAF Naming Contest

[ Contest Home ] [ Runners-Up ] [ Honorable Mentions ]

[ Chandra: The Man Behind the Name ]

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 01/21/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/contest/co_winners.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:36 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory: AXAF Naming Contest

Co-Winner Tyrel Johnson

Tyrel Johnson, a high school sophomore, is an avid space science and astronomy enthusiast. He learned about Chandra by reading Kip Thorne's book on black holes. This semester he is enrolled in a senior physics class as an elective.

``At first they weren't sure about having a sophomore in the class, but now it's fine,'' said the soft-spoken Johnson. Now, he said, the seniors are talking about throwing him a congratulatory party.

``He's a teacher's dream student,'' said science teacher Rick Alm. ``He'd come in after school just to have conversations about things -- things like astrophysics. Things other students would be bored with.''

Alm was the catalyst for Johnson's contest entry. Alm had just returned from a national science teachers convention in Las Vegas last spring and spread word of the contest.

Johnson was the only student interested in entering. He pestered Alm to remember to bring the paperwork to school from home.

``This guy is great,'' Alm said of Johnson. ``He's going to go places.''

One of the first places he will be going is to Cape Canaveral to watch Cmdr. Eileen Collins and crew lift off in the Space Shuttle Columbia which will deploy the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

(The story above contains excerpts from an article written by Susan Drumheller in The Spokesman-Review, December 21, 1998.)

[ Contest Home ] [ Runners-Up ] [ Honorable Mentions ]

[ Chandra: The Man Behind the Name ]

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/contest/tyrel_johnson.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:37 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory: AXAF Naming Contest

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/17/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/contest/tyrel_johnson.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:37 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory: AXAF Naming Contest

And the runners-up are...

ENTRY: CHANDRA NAME: Tom Fuller Essay

ENTRY: CHANDRASEKHAR OBSERVATORY NAME: Norman Evensen Essay

ENTRY: CHANDRASEKHAR X-RAY OBSERVATORY NAME: Ivan Sandler Essay

ENTRY: CURIE OBSERVATORY NAME: J. Scott Thiel Essay

ENTRY: CURIE X-RAY OBSERVATORY NAME: Kin Fung Man Essay

ENTRY: MARIE CURIE NAME: Katie Hronek SCHOOL: Chapparal HS Essay

ENTRY: MARIE CURIE NAME: Carrie Ryan SCHOOL: Wellesley College Essay

ENTRY: MARIE CURIE OBSERVATORY

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/contest/runners_up.html (1 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:42:41 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory: AXAF Naming Contest NAME: Sarah Spergel Essay

ENTRY: ANNIE CANNON X-RAY OBSERVATORY NAME: Vickie Frohne Essay

ENTRY: CANNON NAME: Paul Adams Essay

ENTRY: BANNEKER NAME: Ellen Jackson Essay

ENTRY: BENJAMIN BANNEKER OBSERVATORY NAME: Robert Twitty SCHOOL: Gateway Middle Essay

ENTRY: FEYNMAN OBSERVATORY NAME: Anita Barry Essay

ENTRY: FEYNMAN STATION NAME: Paul Vecchio Essay

ENTRY: FRITZ ZWICKY ADVANCED X-RAY ASTROPHYSICS FACILITY NAME:Derek Fox SCHOOL: MIT Essay

ENTRY: ZWICKY NAME:Bill Creutz Essay

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/contest/runners_up.html (2 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:42:41 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory: AXAF Naming Contest

ENTRY: HYPATIA NAME: Carol Urico Essay

ENTRY: ASIMOV NAME: Stephen Brickell Essay

ENTRY: ASIMOV NAME: Shazeen Moledina SCHOOL: Ping Yi Secondary School Essay

ENTRY: ASIMOV OBSERVATORY NAME: Patricia Solfest Essay

ENTRY: MANYA NAME: Amy Sobota SCHOOL: UW-Madison Essay

ENTRY: CECILIA (PAYNE GAPOSCHKIN) NAME:Sally Delaney Essay

ENTRY: DAVINCI-SCOPE NAME: John Bourquis Essay

ENTRY: LEONARDO DA VINCI NAME: K.A. Martin Essay

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/contest/runners_up.html (3 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:42:41 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory: AXAF Naming Contest

ENTRY: ABELL X-RAY ASTRONOMY FACILITY (AXAF) NAME: Kurtis Williams SCHOOL: Univ. of CA, Santa Cruz Essay

ENTRY: MILLENNIUM NAME: Ameliza Ahmad SCHOOL: Bukit Panjang Government High School Essay

ENTRY: MILLENIUM X-RAY SPACE OBSERVATORY(MXSO) NAME: Silvana Karina Alegre de Di Rocca Essay

ENTRY: MILLENNIUM NAME: Jessica Grady SCHOOL: Solar Woods Homeschool Essay

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[ Chandra: The Man Behind the Name ]

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Revised: 01/21/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/contest/runners_up.html (4 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:42:41 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory: AXAF Naming Contest

Honorable Mentions

ENTRY: CHANDRA NAME: Tom Fuller

At the age of nineteen, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (who preferred to be called Chandra) formulated the Chandrasekhar Limit, presaging the very objects that AXAF explores: neutron stars and black holes. He edited the Astrophysical Journal for 19 years; he won the Nobel Prize and most other awards of his field. To this age of specialization, he exemplifies love of learning for its own sake; his works shine with precise scholarship and sweeping breadth. Modern researchers in chemistry, physics, mathematics, or even history might stumble upon some fundamental treatment by Chandra that illumines their current investigations. So many of our American spacecraft bear names that echo European heritage (Einstein, Cassini, Hubble, Compton, etc.). We should be ready to honor the Indian who graced our nation's heartland (Chicago) from 1937 to his death (Oct. 19, 1995). He was an intellectual encouraging, nurturing, and guiding young scientists. His loyalty to his adopted nation (in the face of great family resistance) was all the more noble for the shameful discrimination incidents he and his family endured. Chandra said in the autobiographical account (quoted in "Chandra" by Kameshwar C. Wali) published with his Nobel lecture, "my scientific work followed a certain pattern motivated principally by a quest after perspectives." What better crystallizes AXAF's mission than "a quest after perspectives"?

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ENTRY: CHANDRASEKHAR OBSERVATORY NAME: Norman Evensen

NASA's third "Great Observatory" should be named after the great Indian-American astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who died in 1995. In a lifetime of teaching and research, most of it (since 1937) at the University of Chicago, he educated generations of physicists and astronomers, edited the Astrophysical Journal, and produced a series of brilliant papers and books, starting with his prediction, as a student

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/contest/chaness.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:43 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory: AXAF Naming Contest in the 1930's, of what we now call "black holes". He explored with his intellect most of the phenomena that the AXAF satellite will explore observationally, including black holes, plasmas, relativistic astrophysics and stellar evolution. He was one of very few astronomers to receive a Nobel Prize, in 1983, and was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1966.

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ENTRY: CHANDRASEKHAR X-RAY OBSERVATORY NAME: Ivan Sandler

The AXAF should be named the Chandrasekhar X-Ray Observatory because Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was the first to provide us with a glimpse of the nature of the physical processes that underlie the X-Ray phenomena to be observed by this facility. His pioneering work on the evolution and death of stars was the initial key step in our ability to understand and interpret such observations. His contributions to astrophysics make him well-deserving of this honor.

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[ Contest Home ] [ Runners-Up ] [ Co-Winners ]

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Revised: 01/21/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/contest/chaness.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:43 AM] Chandra - Web Site Awards

Chandra Web Site Awards

Cool Surf of the Day May, 1999 Congratulations your site has been selected as a Cool Surf of the Day winner at Surfers Choice Internet Awards. This award has stood as a symbol of high quality Websites since mid 1996.

The Exploratorium's Ten Cool Sites Award May, 1999 The Exploratorium presents ten cool science, art, and education sites for the month of May. From arts to weather, if it's cool, it's there.

Medaille d'Or Award April, 1999 We took a look at your site, and were very impressed by what we saw. Congratulations on being awarded the Medaille d'Or for it!

World Best Websites March, 1999 CONGRATULATIONS - your website has been chosen as one of a select few to have won the prestigious World Best Websites - Gold Award. After an extensive review, our team of site evaluators found your website to be in the TOP 10% of all sites reviewed. Of the hundreds of websites we review every month, our team rated your site very highly with an average score of 91%. Judges made specific mention of your outstanding contributions to science, superb website, wonderful education services & excellent image gallery & resources.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/about/awards.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:42:48 AM] Chandra - Web Site Awards

Webmaster Award March, 1999 Congratulations! You have been chosen as part of a select few to have won the prestigious Webmaster Award. After review of your website, our staff of judges has found your website to be in the TOP 2% of all the websites we've reviewed. Of the thousands of websites we review every month, our staff believes your web site to have exceptional graphics as well as unique & interesting content.

Design's Eye Masterpiece Award March, 1999 Congratulations! I am pleased to present you with the Design's Eye Masterpiece Award as my appreciation for your outstanding work. Your site is visually pleasing, has excellent graphics, and is very easy to navigate! Thank you for adding an interesting and informative site to the net, it was a pleasure to visit.

Critical Mass Award March, 1999 Congratulations!!...... Your site definitely qualifies for the "Critical Mass Award". A very nice site, excellent design, beautiful original graphics, great photos, and your content is informative, entertaining, presented well and easy to access. A worthy enterprise and a very positive contribution to the Web.

Blazen's Web Creation Award March, 1999 Congratulations!! Your site qualifies for Blazen's Web Creation Award! A very nice site: great design and layout, good use of graphics, great content, and ease of navigation. Keep up the good work!

USA Today Hot Site Award January, 1999 The Chandra X-ray Observatory Center is billed as the gateway to the hot universe of black holes. You're invited to check out its extraterrestrial mission, get a status report on its launch and even play some brainy interactive games.

Eye Candy WWW Nominee March, 1999

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Revised: 05/11/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/about/awards.html (3 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:42:48 AM] Chandra - About Chandra - The Chandra Mission

Mission Description

Mission Milestones - Chandra's progress towards a 1999 launch.

Chandra Top Ten - Top Ten amazing facts about the Chandra!

Chandra 101 - Overview for Teachers and Students

Drawing portraying mission orbit of Chandra

N ASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, scheduled to be launched and deployed by the Space Shuttle in 1999, will be the most sophisticated X-ray observatory ever built. Chandra is designed to observe X-rays from high energy regions of the universe, such as hot gas in the remnants of exploded stars. The two images of the Tycho supernova remnant shown below illustrate how higher resolution improves the quality of an image:

The image on the left is from a low-resolution detector on the Einstein Observatory. The image on the right, taken by the High Resolution Imager on the Einstein Observatory, has ten times better resolution, or finer detail (pixel area ten times smaller), than the one on the left. Chandra images will be fifty times better than the image on the right. Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/08/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/about/axaf_mission.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:42:50 AM] Chandra - About Chandra - Science Instruments

Chandra Hardware

Telescope System - consists of four pairs of mirrors and their support structure.

Science Instruments - function to record as accurately as possible the number, position and energy of the incoming X-rays in order to make an X-ray image and study other properties of the source, such as its temperature.

Spacecraft - provides the support structure and environment necessary for the telescope and the science instruments to work as an observatory.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 11/02/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/about/hardware.html [5/24/1999 9:42:52 AM] Chandra - About Chandra - The Chandra Mission

More Spacey Word Searches

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/06/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/edu/games/wordsearch/supernova_search.html [5/24/1999 9:45:31 AM] Chandra - Educational Materials

Classroom Activities

This section will soon be organized by grade level! Until then, browse through some fun activities and handouts:

New! Educational Booklet 12 page booklet of information on the Chandra spacecraft, mission and what Chandra will investigate. Includes classroom activities for grades 9 - 12. Chandra 101 A brief overview of x-ray astronomy and the Chandra mission for teachers and students. Ask an Astrophysicist Ask questions about the X-Ray universe, then view the Q & A page for answers!

Galactic Navigation Take a tour of the Galactic Coordinate System! Chandra Fun Facts Learn some interesting trivia about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and what it will study in a fun question & answer format! Interactive Games Educational Word Searches, Puzzles, Memory, and other games based on the Chandra and Xray Astronomy! Test Yourself Quizzes Interactive quizzes on the Chandra Mission & General Astronomy. (grades 10-12) Printable Activities & Games Crossword puzzles, word searches, coloring booklet, trading cards and NASA's Great Observatories Paper Models! Handouts Discovering the x-ray universe, an explanation of the Chandra Mission & many more! Chandra Top Ten Top Ten Amazing Facts about the Chandra!

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/edu/activities.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:45:33 AM] Chandra - Educational Materials

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/11/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/edu/activities.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:45:33 AM] Chandra - Educational Materials - Interactive Games

Interactive games

New! Voice your opinion in the Chandra Poll!

New! Send a friend a Chandra Virtual Postcard!

New! Be your own Picasso and try our Coloring Book! (requires java)

Figure out our Crossword Puzzles! (requires java)

Try unscrambling our Puzzling Pictures! (requires java)

Search for some Spacey Words! (requires java)

Concentrate on our Memory game! (requires java)

Four categories of fun - our own version of Hangman!

Feeling Poetic? Express yourself with Word Magnets! (requires java)

Web-Based Scavenger Hunt - Coming Soon!

Optimal performance with Netscape Communicator 4 & MS Internet Explorer 4 - download them for free!

New! We now have some printable versions of the crosswords, word searches and coloring book activities in HTML & Adobe Acrobat formats!

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/edu/games.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:45:37 AM] Chandra - Educational Materials - Interactive Games

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/22/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/edu/games.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:45:37 AM] Chandra - Educational Materials

Education Links & Resources

Careers/Internships:

Female Frontiers - by Women of NASA and Space Team Online - spotlights Cmdr. Eileen Collins & other women who are firsts in their fields. Will include a live webcast from the launch of STS-93. SAO Intern Program - a 10 week summer intern program at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA

General Education:

Windows to the Universe - user-friendly learning for the general public that includes images, movies, animations, and data sets that explore the Earth and Space sciences. NASA's Observatorium - public access site for Earth and space data; includes pictures of the Earth, planets, stars, and more, plus the stories behind the images. Frontiers of the Universe (SEU Forum) - offers various projects, debates and educational pieces on the structure and evolution of the universe. NASA Office of Space Science - comprehensive list of Web sites relevant to Space Science education and public outreach organized by category.

K - 8 Education:

StarChild - explains science concepts from galaxies to the Solar System in a way that makes sense to kids. AstroCappella - a site of songs, pictures and activities about astronomy...created & performed by scientists! Amazing Space - web-based activities primarily for classroom use, but available for all to enjoy. Interactive lessons for K-12.

9 - 14 Education:

Imagine the Universe - explores the mysteries of the structure and evolution of the Universe; includes lesson plans, activities and more. The UC Santa Barbara Astrophysics Project - Connect to the Remotely Operated Telescope (ROT), interactive Astrophysics, database of heavenly images.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/edu/edu_links.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:45:39 AM] Chandra - Educational Materials

Teacher's Corner:

Everyday Classroom Tools (ECT) - inquiry-based, science curriculum development project. (grades K-6) Science Education Gateway (SEGway) - Learning adventures in Earth and Space science from a NASA-sponsored partnership of museums, researchers and educators. (grades K- 12) NASA Aerospace Education Services - nationwide, free program for teachers, students, and the general public to increase understanding of scientific research and technological development. NASA Spacelink Educational Services - supports students, teachers, and faculty in the areas of science, mathematics, and technology. NY Times Learning Network - resources for teachers connected to articles in the NY Times (grades 6 - 12). Project ARIES - astronomy resources for intercurricular elementary science. (grades 3-6)

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 04/01/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/edu/edu_links.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:45:39 AM] Chandra Poll

Voice your opinion! Take the Chandra Poll!

Question # 4 (May 10 - May 24, 1999)

Q: Do you think a better knowledge of the universe is important?

Yes No Maybe I don't know

Results

There will be a new opinion poll posted every 2 weeks, so come back soon!

View the results of our previous polls: Question 3: Which of the following topics in astronomy interest you the most? (Apr 19 - May 10) Question 2: Would you like to see more media coverage of astronomy news? (Apr 5 - Apr 19) Question 1: How much impact do you feel the space program has on your life? (Mar 22 - Apr 5)

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/10/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/vote/quizlet.html [5/24/1999 9:45:42 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards

Chandra Virtual Postcards

Choose the category for the card you want to send:

Privacy note: the cards are stored in a non-indexed directory so only you and the recipient will know how to find the card (it will not be indexed by search engines). This directory is secure from spammers, so this will not cause you to end up on junk lists. All cards will be deleted after about one week.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/11/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/index.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:45:46 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/index.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:45:46 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Friendship

HOW TO SEND A CHANDRA GREETING CARD Send someone a spacey greeting with Chandra's Virtual Post Cards! Just follow the instructions below. After you have completed the card, you may see a preview. If you do not like your card, you may edit it and then send it, or just cancel the request. The recipient will receive e-mail advising where to find the card.

1) SELECT AN IMAGE Please select a picture from the list below using the little Radio Button selector. You may only pick one picture per card. Click on an image to view the full size.

You are my I can always Sunshine! count on you!!!

X-rays of the Sun Pulsar: Crab Nebula with Neutron Star (Yohkoh) (Rosat Xray) 2) NAME AND E-MAIL INFORMATION In the boxes below, please enter both your's and the recipient's name and e-mail addresses.

Please be certain of recipient's email address Your Name:

Your E-Mail Address:

Recipient's Name:

Recipient's E-Mail Address:

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/friend.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:45:49 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Friendship 3) SELECT YOUR TEXT AND BACKGROUND COLORS Using the two pulldown menus below, select your text and background colors. The script will not check to see if you have both colors set the same, so if you want your recipient to be able to read the card, please select two different colors!

Text Color Background 4) ENTER YOUR TITLE & MESSAGE In the box below, please enter your message. Please feel free to use HTML to express yourself!

Card Title

Your Message

5) SIGN YOUR CARD Please fill in below, how you would like to sign your card. Examples would be: ● Cordially, Buffy ● Best Wishes, Fred ● Love, Me!

6) CHOOSE A SONG (optional)! Please make a selection or skip this step for no music.

7) VIEW IT OR START OVER You are now ready to preview your card! To do so, just click on the VIEW CARD button below. If you want to clear the form and start all over, select START-OVER. Your card will not be sent until you press the SEND-CARD button on the preview screen.

Other Cards Available: Get Well Love Congratulations Thank you Birthday General

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/friend.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:45:49 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Friendship

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/12/99

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/friend-sunshine.jpg [5/24/1999 9:45:51 AM] http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/friend-count.jpg

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/friend-count.jpg [5/24/1999 9:45:54 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Get Well

1) SELECT AN IMAGE Please select a picture from the list below using the little Radio Button selector. You may only pick one picture per card. Click on an image to view the full size.

Wishing you a Feeling Blue? speedy recovery Get better soon!

Shuttle Columbia lifts off Coma Cluster of galaxies, (NASA) optical image (UK Schmidt) Hope you're on your feet again soon!

Astronaut in a spacewalk (NASA) 2) NAME AND E-MAIL INFORMATION In the boxes below, please enter both your's and the recipient's name and e-mail addresses.

Please be certain of recipient's email address http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/getwell.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:45:58 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Get Well

Your Name:

Your E-Mail Address:

Recipient's Name:

Recipient's E-Mail Address:

3) SELECT YOUR TEXT AND BACKGROUND COLORS Using the two pulldown menus below, select your text and background colors. The script will not check to see if you have both colors set the same, so if you want your recipient to be able to read the card, please select two different colors!

Text Color Background 4) ENTER YOUR TITLE & MESSAGE In the box below, please enter your message. Please feel free to use HTML to express yourself!

Card Title

Your Message

5) SIGN YOUR CARD Please fill in below, how you would like to sign your card. Examples would be: ● Cordially, Buffy ● Best Wishes, Fred ● Love, Me!

6) CHOOSE A SONG (optional)! Please make a selection or skip this step for no music.

Other Cards Available: Birthday Love Congratulations Thank you Friendship General

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/getwell.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:45:58 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Get Well

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/12/99

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/getwell-blue.jpg [5/24/1999 9:46:07 AM] http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/getwell-feet.jpg

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/getwell-feet.jpg [5/24/1999 9:46:09 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Birthday

1) SELECT AN IMAGE Please select a picture from the list below using the little Radio Button selector. You may only pick one picture per card. Click on an image to view the full size.

You've made it through another Have a blast orbit! on your birthday!

Planets & sun in aligment Tycho supernova remnant (Artist illustration, NASA) (Rosat X-ray)

And you thought you were Getting Old!

Globular Cluster M3 Age: 13 billion years (P.Challis, CfA)

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/bday.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:46:15 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Birthday 2) NAME AND E-MAIL INFORMATION In the boxes below, please enter both your's and the recipient's name and e-mail addresses.

Please be certain of recipient's email address Your Name:

Your E-Mail Address:

Recipient's Name:

Recipient's E-Mail Address:

Text Color Background 4) ENTER YOUR TITLE & MESSAGE In the box below, please enter your message. Please feel free to use HTML to express yourself!

Card Title

Your Message

5) SIGN YOUR CARD Please fill in below, how you would like to sign your card. Examples would be: ● Cordially, Buffy ● Best Wishes, Fred ● Love, Me!

6) CHOOSE A SONG (optional)! Please make a selection or skip this step for no music.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/bday.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:46:15 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Birthday

Other Cards Available: Get Well Love Congratulations Thank you Friendship General

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Revised: 03/12/99

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/bday-blast.jpg [5/24/1999 9:46:46 AM] http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/bday-gettingold.jpg

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/bday-gettingold.jpg [5/24/1999 9:46:50 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Congrats

1) SELECT AN IMAGE Please select a picture from the list below using the little Radio Button selector. You may only pick one picture per card. Click on an image to view the full size.

Your future is soaring Congratulations! with possibilities May you shine brightly!

Space Shuttle Columbia M104: Sombrero Galaxy (NASA) (D.Malin, Anglo-Aus Obs) 2) NAME AND E-MAIL INFORMATION In the boxes below, please enter both your's and the recipient's name and e-mail addresses.

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/congrats.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:46:54 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Congrats 3) SELECT YOUR TEXT AND BACKGROUND COLORS Using the two pulldown menus below, select your text and background colors. The script will not check to see if you have both colors set the same, so if you want your recipient to be able to read the card, please select two different colors!

Text Color Background 4) ENTER YOUR TITLE & MESSAGE In the box below, please enter your message. Please feel free to use HTML to express yourself!

Card Title

Your Message

5) SIGN YOUR CARD Please fill in below, how you would like to sign your card. Examples would be: ● Cordially, Buffy ● Best Wishes, Fred ● Love, Me!

6) CHOOSE A SONG (optional)! Please make a selection or skip this step for no music.

Other Cards Available: Get Well Love Birthday Thank you Friendship General

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/congrats.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:46:54 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Congrats

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/17/99

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/congrats-soaring.jpg [5/24/1999 9:46:56 AM] http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/congrats-bright.jpg

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/congrats-bright.jpg [5/24/1999 9:46:58 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards

1) SELECT AN IMAGE Please select a picture from the list below using the little Radio Button selector. You may only pick one picture per card. Click on an image to view the full size.

My heart explodes with You mean the love for you! world to me.

Portrayal of Supernova The earth and a reflection Explosion (CXC) of the moon (NASA) Our attraction for each other is strong!

Portrayal of a Cluster Merger (CXC) 2) NAME AND E-MAIL INFORMATION In the boxes below, please enter both your's and the recipient's name and e-mail addresses.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/love.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:47:03 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards Please be certain of recipient's email address Your Name:

Your E-Mail Address:

Recipient's Name:

Recipient's E-Mail Address:

Text Color Background 4) ENTER YOUR TITLE & MESSAGE In the box below, please enter your message. Please feel free to use HTML to express yourself!

Card Title

Your Message

5) SIGN YOUR CARD Please fill in below, how you would like to sign your card. Examples would be: ● Cordially, Buffy ● Best Wishes, Fred ● Love, Me!

6) CHOOSE A SONG (optional)! Please make a selection or skip this step for no music.

Other Cards Available: Get Well Birthday Congratulations Thank you Friendship General

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/love.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:47:03 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/12/99

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/love-world.jpg [5/24/1999 9:47:08 AM] http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/love-attraction.jpg

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/love-attraction.jpg [5/24/1999 9:47:10 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Thank you cards

1) SELECT AN IMAGE Please select a picture from the list below using the little Radio Button selector. You may only pick one picture per card. Click on an image to view the full size.

Just wanted to say... Thanks, You Thanks a Billion! brightened up my day

M31 - Andromeda Galaxy Centaurus A (B.Schoening/V.Harvey/NOAO) Radio Galaxy (2MASS) 2) NAME AND E-MAIL INFORMATION In the boxes below, please enter both your's and the recipient's name and e-mail addresses.

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Recipient's Name:

Recipient's E-Mail Address:

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/thanks.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:47:14 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Thank you cards 3) SELECT YOUR TEXT AND BACKGROUND COLORS Using the two pulldown menus below, select your text and background colors. The script will not check to see if you have both colors set the same, so if you want your recipient to be able to read the card, please select two different colors!

Text Color Background 4) ENTER YOUR TITLE & MESSAGE In the box below, please enter your message. Please feel free to use HTML to express yourself!

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5) SIGN YOUR CARD Please fill in below, how you would like to sign your card. Examples would be: ● Cordially, Buffy ● Best Wishes, Fred ● Love, Me!

6) CHOOSE A SONG (optional)! Please make a selection or skip this step for no music.

Other Cards Available: Get Well Love Congratulations Birthday Friendship General

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/thanks.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:47:14 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - Thank you cards

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/12/99

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/thanks-bright.jpg [5/24/1999 9:47:18 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - General

1) SELECT AN IMAGE Please select a picture from the list below using the little Radio Button selector. You may only pick one picture per card. Click on an image to view the full size.

Chandra X-ray Observatory Chandra X-ray Observatory

TRW's latest portrayal of Chandra A different portrayal of Chandra against beautiful backdrop against backdrop of hot gas

Chandra X-ray Observatory Chandra Launch!

Artistic portrayal of a Space Shuttle Columbia "hot" Chandra soaring into the sky (NASA)

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/gen.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:47:23 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - General

Chandra Collage

A collage of images Black hole, Cas A, A1367 & more See our complete description 2) NAME AND E-MAIL INFORMATION In the boxes below, please enter both your's and the recipient's name and e-mail addresses.

Please be certain of recipient's email address Your Name:

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/gen.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:47:23 AM] Chandra - Virtual Postcards - General 6) CHOOSE A SONG (optional)! Please make a selection or skip this step for no music.

Other Cards Available: Get Well Love Congratulations Thank you Friendship Birthday

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/12/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/gen.html (3 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:47:23 AM] http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/general-chandra1.jpg

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/general-chandra1.jpg [5/24/1999 9:47:25 AM] http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/general-chandra2.jpg

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/general-chandra2.jpg [5/24/1999 9:47:27 AM] http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/general-chandra3.jpg

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/general-chandra3.jpg [5/24/1999 9:47:30 AM] http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/general-launch.jpg

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/general-launch.jpg [5/24/1999 9:47:32 AM] http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/general-collage.jpg

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/cards/newcards/general-collage.jpg [5/24/1999 9:47:34 AM] Chandra Resources - Desktops!

Answer key for desktop collage:

1. The Chandra Spacecraft, artist's portrayal by TRW. 2. X-ray image of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, from Rosat PSPC, depicting an expanding shell of hot gas produced by the supernova explosion. 3. X-ray image of galaxy cluster Abell 1367 from HEAO-2/Einstein showing vas clouds of hot gas. 4. Infrared image of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, from ISO, showing dust grains that have been swept up and heated to several hundred degrees by the expanding hot gas. 5. Optical image of the Coma cluster of galaxies from UK Schmidt. This cluster is so large that it takes light millions of years to cross it. 6. The early stages of a cluster merger. This artist's portrayal demonstrates giant galaxy clusters filled with vast clouds of hot, x-ray producing gas. 7. An artist's portrayal of a starburst galaxy, the combined effect of many exploding stars leading to the formation of a large, hot, rapidly expanding gas cloud that emits x-rays.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/answer_key.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:47:37 AM] Chandra Resources - Desktops! 8. An artist's illustration of a black hole. X-ray telescopes provide an unequaled view of super-heated matter that is swirling toward the event horizon of a black hole. 9. Optical image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, from MDM Obs., showing matter with a temperature of about ten thousand degrees. 10. VLA radio image of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. Cas A gets its name from radio astronomers, who 'rediscovered' it in 1948 as the strongest radio source in the constellation of Cassiopeia. 11. An artist's portrayal of a supernova. When a massive star explodes, it creates a shell of hot gas that glows brightly in x-rays. These x-rays reveal the dynamics of the explosion. 12. An artist's portrayal of hot gas. 13. X-ray image of the Coma cluster of galaxies from Rosat. This cluster is so large that it takes light millions of years to cross it.

Return to Desktop Patterns/Wallpaper

Try our Chandra Screen Savers too!

The Chandra Mission Animations & Video X-ray Astronomy Desktop Themes X-ray Sources Presentations Chandrasekhar CXC Handouts

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/26/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/answer_key.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:47:37 AM] http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/graphics/resources/desktops/collage.jpg

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/graphics/resources/desktops/collage.jpg [5/24/1999 9:47:47 AM] Chandra Resources - Desktops!

Bring the Chandra X-ray Observatory to your PC with our new Desktop Patterns/Wallpapers & Screensavers!

New! One of the latest portrayals of the Chandra spacecraft from TRW set against a beautiful backdrop.

Jpeg Bitmap

New! Looking for something a little different? Try our collage of interesting astronomical images. We even have an Answer Key so you may learn what each image is.

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An artist's portrayal of the Chandra X-ray Observatory in space. Pictured behind the space craft are the moon and earth (not to scale).

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An artist's rendition of the Chandra X-ray Observatory in space.

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/desktops.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:47:51 AM] Chandra Resources - Desktops!

Space Shuttle Columbia, from which Chandra will be deployed in 1999, soars up into the sky.

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Space Shuttle Columbia, from which Chandra will be deployed in 1999, lands with a beautiful sunrise in the background.

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Directions

For Windows 95/98/NT:

Click on the thumbnail of the image you want for your desktop. Once it has finished loading, click on the image with your *RIGHT* mouse button and scroll down to "Set as Wallpaper" in the menu. Windows will automatically place it as your desktop. If the image is tiled, and you don't want it to be, *RIGHT* click your mouse anywhere on your desktop image and scroll down to "Properties." Click on the "Background" tab and check the "Center" radio button where it says "Display".

For the Mac (OS 8.5):

Click on the thumbnail of the image you want for your desktop. Once it has finished loading, click on the image with your mouse button and scroll down to "Save this Image As" in the menu. Save it to your hard drive or your desktop. Next, go to your Apple menu in the upper left corner, scroll down to "Control Panels" and choose "Appearance". Click on the "Desktop" tab. Click the "Place Picture..." button on the lower right and select the location where you saved your desktop image and press "Choose." Then, press the "Set Desktop" button in the Appearance menu. Your image will appear on your desktop!

Note: on Mac OS 8.1, choose "Desktop Patterns" from the control panels instead

Try our Chandra Screen Savers too!

The Chandra Mission Animations & Video X-ray Astronomy Desktop Themes X-ray Sources Presentations Chandrasekhar CXC Handouts

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/desktops.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:47:51 AM] Chandra Resources - Desktops!

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 04/28/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/desktops.html (3 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:47:51 AM] Chandra Resources - Screen Savers

NEW! Chandra Screen Saver #1 for Macintosh (4.4 MB) Directions: Download this stuffed setup file to install the Chandra X-ray Observatory Screen Saver for Mac. Unstuff the archive and copy the "Chandra Screen Saver" icon to your Control Panels (located in your "System Folder"). Restart your computer and you're done!

NEW! Chandra Screen Saver #2 for Macintosh (2.8 MB) "Construct, Launch, Observe" is the theme for this screen saver, displaying images for each key word. Directions: Download this stuffed setup file to install the Chandra X-ray Observatory Screen Saver for Mac. Unstuff the archive and copy the "Chandra Screen Saver" icon to your Control Panels (located in your "System Folder"). Restart your computer and you're done!

NEW! Chandra Screen Saver #2 for Win 95/98/NT. (794 k) "Construct, Launch, Observe" is the theme for this screen saver, displaying images for each key word. Directions: Download this zipped setup file to install the Chandra Screen Saver for Windows 95/98/NT. Unzip the archive, Run it and choose "Display" from the Control Panel of your computer. Under the "Screensaver" tab, select "ChandraPCv2b" from the list and hit "Apply".

Chandra Screen Saver #1 for Windows 95/98/NT. (2.2 MB) Directions: Download this zipped setup file to install the Chandra X-ray Observatory Screen Saver for Windows 95/98/NT. Unzip the archive, Run it and choose "Display" from the Control Panel of your computer. Under the "Screensaver" tab, select "Chandra" from the list and hit "Apply".

Try our wallpaper & desktop patterns too!

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/screensavers/ (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:47:55 AM] Chandra Resources - Screen Savers The Chandra Mission Animations & Video X-ray Astronomy Desktop Themes X-ray Sources Presentations Chandrasekhar CXC Handouts

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/05/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/screensavers/ (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:47:55 AM] CXC Resources - The Chandra Mission

Telescope System

Schematic Illustrations

Mirror Fabrication

Telescope Assembly

Science Instruments

Chandra Simulations

Schematic Illustrations

High-Resolution Camera

CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS)

Gratings

Spacecraft

Artist's Illustrations

Spacecraft Construction

Transport of Spacecraft to KSC

Preparing the Spacecraft for Launch

Spacecraft at KSC (link to KSC site)

Astronauts

The STS 93 Crew

Crew Aboard Shuttle (link to NASA)

Operations Control Center

Pre-Launch

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/chandraMission.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:00 AM] CXC Resources - The Chandra Mission

Post-Launch

Launch

Shuttle Columbia (link to Launch!)

The Chandra Mission Animations & Video X-ray Astronomy Desktop Themes X-ray Sources Presentations Chandrasekhar CXC Handouts

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 04/28/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/chandraMission.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:00 AM] CXO - Resources - Telescope Schematic Illustations Index

CXO Telescope Schematic Illustrations Index

Click on the Thumbnail for image viewing options.

1 Light Path The Chandra Observatory is first oriented toward a cosmic x ray source. See the animation! (Illustration: CXC / D.Berry & A. Hobart)

2 Light Path Next, X-ray photons entering the telescope are reflected at grazing angles and focused onto an electronic detector to make an image of a cosmic source. See the animation! (Illustration: CXC / D.Berry & A. Hobart) 3 Light Path Here is a closeup showing the focusing of the x-rays onto an electronic detector. See the animation! (Illustration: CXC / D.Berry & A. Hobart)

4 Mirror Comparison X-rays that strike a mirror head-on are absorbed. See the animation! (Illustration: CXC / D.Berry)

5 Nested X-ray Mirrors X-rays that hit a mirror at grazing angles are reflected like a pebble skipping across a pond. Thus, X-ray telescope mirrors are shaped like barrels rather than dishes. See the animation! (Illustration: CXC / D.Berry)

6 Focusing X-rays X-ray mirror assembly focuses X-rays onto a detector to produce am image See the animation! (Illustration: CXC / D.Berry)

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/illustrations/teleSchem.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:04 AM] CXO - Resources - Telescope Schematic Illustations Index 7 Schematic of Grazing Incidence, X-Ray Mirror This cutaway illustrates the design and functioning of the High Resolution Mirror Assembly (HRMA) on Chandra. (Illustration: Hughes Danbury Optical Systems & TRW Inc) 8 Schematic of Grazing Incidence, X-Ray Telescope This cross through four nested pairs of mirrors illustrates the principle of grazing incidence reflection and focusing of x rays. Two reflections are required to make an image. The grazings angles range from about 3.5 degrees for the outer pair to about 2 degrees for the inner pair. (Illustration: CXC / S. Lee)

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Telescope Schematics The Chandra Mission Mirror Fabrication X-ray Astronomy Telescope Assembly X-ray Sources Science Instruments Chandrasekhar

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/10/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/illustrations/teleSchem.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:04 AM] CXC Resources - Light Path - Q1

Light Path - Q1

index [ back | next ]

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Copyright Information 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/03/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/illustrations/lightpathQ1.html [5/24/1999 9:48:08 AM] Chandra Resources - Animations & Video

Note: These animations and video are available as either Quick Time movies or java applets. Make sure your browser is configured for java and visit our download center to get Quick Time 3 (free) if you do not have it.

The Chandra Mission

Spacecraft

Chandra Mirrors

Deployment & Orbit

X-ray Astronomy

Photon Emission

X-ray Sources

X-ray Pulsar

The Chandra Mission Animations & Video X-ray Astronomy Desktop Themes X-ray Sources Presentations Chandrasekhar CXC Handouts

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/05/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/animations/ (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:11 AM] Chandra Resources - Animations & Video

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/animations/ (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:11 AM] Chandra Resources - Animations & Video

The Chandra Spacecraft:

DATA PATH (QuickTime) ● High Res (1901568 Bytes) ● Low Res (910336 Bytes) Communication between the Chandra Observatory and the Chandra operations and control facility is via the deep space network. (Animation: CXC / D. Berry) - View Still Photos

LIGHT PATH (QuickTime) ● High Res (5112832 Bytes) ● Low Res (1953792 Bytes) X-ray photons entering the telescope are reflected at grazing angles and focused onto an electronic detector to make an image of a cosmic source. (Animation: CXC / D. Berry & A. Hobart) - View Still Photos

Chandra in Space Quick Time Movie (484 k) This animation shows a 360 degree shot of Chandra in space. (Animation: TRW, Inc.)

Next: The Chandra Mirrors

Note: High Res movies are very high quality and therefore large. They are best for 56 Kbps connections or faster. Low Res movies are not as high quality, are smaller and are better for slower connections, 33.6 Kbps or slower.

Having trouble viewing a movie? Make sure you have Quick Time! Visit our download center for help!

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/animations/spacecraft.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:14 AM] Chandra Resources - Animations & Video The Chandra Mission Animations & Video X-ray Astronomy Desktop Themes X-ray Sources Presentations Chandrasekhar CXC Handouts

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/05/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/animations/spacecraft.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:14 AM] Chandra Resources - Animations & Video

The Chandra Mirrors:

MIRROR COMPARISON (QuickTime) ● High Res (5927936 Bytes) ● Low Res (2336768 Bytes) X-rays that strike a mirror head-on are absorbed. X-rays that hit a mirror at grazing angles are reflected like a pebble skipping across a pond. Thus, X-ray telescope mirrors are shaped like barrels rather than dishes. (Animation: CXC / D. Berry) - View Still Photos

MIRROR REFLECTION Java Animation Photons of visible light enter the telescope at the left, reflect off the parabolic mirror surface and are collected at the focus. Unfortunately, x-ray photons don't reflect as nicely as do visible photons (click on x-ray to change the photons to x-rays - shown in black). Because of the higher energy of these photons, they are absorbed at the surface of the mirror instead of reflecting. (Animation: CXC / Rutgers)

MIRRORS: X-RAY vs. VISIBLE LIGHT Java Animation X-rays do not reflect off mirrors the same way that visible light does. Because of their high energy, X-ray photons that strike a mirror directly will penetrate into the mirror in much the same way that bullets aimed directly at a surface will bury themselves in it. (Animation: CXC / Rutgers)

Next: Deployment & Orbit

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/animations/mirror.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:17 AM] Chandra Resources - Animations & Video The Chandra Mission Animations & Video X-ray Astronomy Desktop Themes X-ray Sources Presentations Chandrasekhar CXC Handouts

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/05/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/animations/mirror.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:17 AM] Chandra - About x-ray Astro - Reflection

The Reflection of Optical and X-Ray Platforms Striking Conventional Telescope Mirror

Here we see how light in a conventional telescope is collected and focused at a single point. Photons of visible light from a celestial object (shown in red) enter the telescope at the left, reflect off the parabolic mirror surface and are collected at the focus. The greater the area of reflecting surface, the greater is the brightness of the image at the focus. In fact, it is this capability (light gathering power) that is the primary reason that telescopes are used, as opposed to the ability to "magnify" any given object. It is also the reason why astronomers are constanting seeking to build larger telescopes; in that way, more light can be collected from faint and distant objects.

Unfortunately, x-ray photons don't reflect as nicely as do visible photons (click on x-ray to change the photons to x-rays - shown in black). Because of the higher energy of these photons, they are absorbed at the surface of the mirror instead of reflecting so we cannot use a mirror such as this for collecting and focusing x-rays from distant sources. The Hubble Space Telescope, which uses this type of mirror, therefore cannot be used to collect and focus the x-ray emissions we'd like to study.

A special telescope design is needed to observe x-rays. How can a telescope be built which can focus the x-rays and not absorb them in the process?

Page 1 | 2

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 12/23/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/xray_astro/reflect/reflect.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:20 AM] Chandra - About x-ray Astro - Reflection

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/xray_astro/reflect/reflect.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:20 AM] Chandra - About Xray Astro - Reflection

The Reflection of Optical and X-Ray Platforms Striking Conventional Telescope Mirror

How do X-ray telescopes differ from optical telescopes? (java enhanced)

X-rays do not reflect off mirrors the same way that visible light does. Because of their high energy, X-ray photons that strike a mirror directly will penetrate into the mirror in much the same way that bullets aimed directly at a surface will bury themselves in it. Likewise, just as a bullets can ricochet off a surface when they hit it at a grazing angle, so too will X-rays ricochet off mirrors if they hit at very shallow angles, like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond. These properties mean that X-ray telescopes must be very different from optical telescopes.

The Chandra mirrors look more like barrels than the familiar dish shape of optical telescopes. Four 'mirror' shells are nested inside one another to increase the total reflecting are of the telescope. The inner, reflecting surfaces of the mirrors have to be precisely shaped, and aligned nearly parallel to the incoming X-rays. The mirrors focus X-ray photons onto state-of-the-art detectors which record position, and in some cases the energy, of the photons. These X-ray data are then analyzed and reconstructed into images of the celestial objects that produce the emissions.

Schematic of the Chandra mirror Page 1 | 2

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/xray_astro/reflect/graze.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:22 AM] Chandra - About Xray Astro - Reflection

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 12/23/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/xray_astro/reflect/graze.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:22 AM] Chandra Press Room - Schematic

CXO: Schematic & Specifications

Full Schematic and Specifications - Image (jpg, 193 KB)

Full Schematic and Specifications - HTML

Full Schematic and Specifications - printable version

Specifications Text Only

[ Press Index ] [ Press Images ] [ Fact Sheets ]

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/24/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/schematic.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:28 AM] Chandra Press Room - Schematic

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/schematic.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:28 AM] Chandra Press Room - Press Releases

Press Releases & Updates

Date Title Organization

18 February 99 Chandra Fellows Named CXC

Chandra X-ray Observatory Arrives at KSC for 04 February 99 KSC Processing

TRW Ships NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory 04 February 99 TRW To KSC

NASA Announces Delay in Shipment of 20 January 99 NASA Chandra

NASA Names Next Premier X-ray Observatory 21 December 98 CXC & Schedules Launch

NASA Delays Shipment of X-Ray Telescope to 13 October 98 NASA KSC to Allow Additional Testing

NASA X-ray Observatory Completes Tests 8 July 98 MSFC Under Harsh Simulated Space Conditions

Shuttle Astronauts Visit NASA's X-ray 25 June 98 ASC Observatory Operations Control Center

NASA Announces Contest to Name X-Ray 16 April 98 NASA Observatory

Assembly of NASA's Most Powerful X-Ray 12 March 98 NASA Telescope Completed

11 March 98 First AXAF Fellowships Awarded ASC

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/press_release.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:30 AM] Chandra Press Room - Press Releases

Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility Delivery 7 December 97 NASA Delayed

Advanced X-Ray Telescope Mirrors Sharpest 20 March 97 NASA Focus Ever

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/22/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/press_release.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:30 AM] Chandra Press Room - Images

Press Images

Categories:

Astronomical Images

Spacecraft & Hardware

Graphics

People

For instructions on downloading/saving and printing images see the Quick Guide to Images

Image Use Policy

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/images.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:34 AM] Chandra Press Room - Images

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 12/15/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/images.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:48:34 AM] Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheets

Fact Sheets

Exploring the Invisible Universe: Chandra Updated May 99 (MSFC)

Chandra X-ray Observatory Science Fact Sheet Updated March 99 (SAO)

The Inertial Upper Stage: Space Workhorse To Boost CXO February 99 (MSFC)

Chandra Schematic & Specifications Updated January 99 (SAO)

Chandra: The Man Behind the Name December 98 (SAO)

Chandra (AXAF) Technical Specifications August 97 (TRW)

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/17/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/fact.html [5/24/1999 9:48:36 AM] Chandra Articles

Articles

X-Ray Vision: Telescope Will Chronicle Universe's Dark Secrets 16 February 99 (Popular Science)

Next shuttle mission to deploy X-ray Observatory 28 December 98 (CNN)

Star student makes name for himself 22 December 98 (Spokane Review)

AXAF Poised to Probe Universe-Shaping Events 13 July 98 (Aviation Week & Space Technology)

X-rays Expose the Violent Sky July 98 (Smithsonian)

NASA Brings Its X-Ray Vision To The Universe 23 October 97 (USA Today)

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 04/08/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/articles.html [5/24/1999 9:48:37 AM] Chandra Press Room - Interviews

Interviews

Current interviews available:

Director Harvey Tananbaum on the Chandra Launch Delays February 11, 1999

Harvey Tananbaum, Director, AXAF Science Center August 26, 1997

Harvey Tananbaum, Director, AXAF Science Center August 26, 1996

Jerry Johnston, AXAF Program Manager, and Bob Hahn, Chief Engineer at Optical Coating Laboratories, Inc. December 11, 1995

Harvey Tananbaum, Director, AXAF Science Center August 29, 1995

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/16/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/interview.html [5/24/1999 9:48:42 AM] Chandra Coffee Break

Coffee Break

Informal commentaries about the Chandra mission

Martin Elvis: AXAF in Context: A Revolution

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/04/99

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View the Bar chart of Chandra mission status.

View: KSC Photo Corner for latest still photos of Chandra in the processing facility

DATE MILESTONE

April 27, 1999 NASA decided to postpone mating Chandra with its IUS booster. March 17, 1999 A full state-of-health test successfully completed at KSC.

February 4, 1999 TRW ships NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to KSC

February 2, 1999 NASA decides to proceed with the shipment of Chandra TRW to KSC, on Thurs, Feb. 4, 1999

January 20, 1999 NASA delays shipment of the Chandra X-ray Observatory from TRW to KSC January 14, 1999 TRW unveils the completed Chandra X-ray Observatory

December 21, 1998 The Chandra X-ray Observatory to be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, on or before Jan. 28

October 13, 1998 NASA delays shipment of AXAF from TRW to Kennedy Space Center July 7, 1998 AXAF successfully completes its thermal vacuum test.

March 12, 1998 Assembly of AXAF is completed at TRW!

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February 13, 1998 NASA plans a 3 December launch of AXAF.

November 1997 TRW experiences delays in assembly and testing of AXAF. June - October 1997 The Mirror Assembly is shipped to TRW.

March - May 1997 The testing of the Scientific Instruments is completed.

AXAF support team at Marshall Space Flight Center December 1996 - March 1997 completes a series of rigorous tests of the X-ray Mirror Assembly. The coated mirrors are transported to Eastman Kodak February - December 1996 Company in Rochester, New York, where they are assembled.

July 1995 - February 1996 The coating of the mirrors with iridium is successfully completed.

December 1991 - July 1995 The grinding and polishing of the grazing-incidence mirrors are completed.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/18/99

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Status of Chandra Mission

Completion Status Activity Schedule [ 0% to 100% ] Mirror Grinding & Polishing Dec 91 - Jul 95 Mirror Assembly Jul 95 - Nov 96 Science Instrument Development Jan 90 - Jan 97 Integral Propulsion System Dec 93 - Mar 97 Spacecraft Structure Fabrication Dec 95 - Mar 97 Mirror & Instrument Calibration Nov 96 - Apr 97 Spacecraft Assembly & Testing Apr 97 - Oct 97 Telescope Assembly & Testing Apr 97 - Sep 97 Observatory Assembly & Testing Oct 97 - TBD Chandra arrive at KSC Feb 4, 99 Launch Preparation at KSC Feb. - TBD Chandra/IUS transfer to Columbia TBD Launch!! TBD On orbit Calibration TBD Scientific Operations TBD

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 04/01/99

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Mission Milestones

APRIL 27, 1999 - NASA decided to postpone mating the Chandra X-ray Observatory with its Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster, pending additional progress in the U.S. Air Force investigation into IUS problems with the April 9 launch of a Department of Defense satellite.

The DOD satellite failed to achieve a proper orbit because of an as yet undetermined problem with its IUS booster. The IUS is a two-stage solid rocket that will be used to help propel the Chandra observatory from low earth orbit to its operating altitude nearly a third of the way to the moon.

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Revised: 05/18/99

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Mission Milestones

MARCH 17, 1999 - Chandra successfully completed an overall state-of-health test and the attitude control thrusters were helium flow-tested March 18 without issues. The solar arrays were installed on March 26 and testing of the mechanical and electrical interfaces is underway.

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Revised: 05/18/99

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Mission Milestones

FEBRUARY 4, 1999 - TRW in Redondo Beach, Calif., has shipped NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Cradled in the Space Cargo Transportation System which closely resembles the size and shape of the Shuttle cargo bay, Chandra was ferried to KSC aboard an Air Force C-5 Galaxy transporter. Over the next few months, the telescope will undergo final tests at KSC and be mated to a Boeing-provided Inertial Upper Stage for launch aboard Space Shuttle Columbia.

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Revised: 04/01/99

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Mission Milestones

FEBRUARY 2, 1999 - NASA managers have decided to proceed with the shipment of Chandra from prime contractor TRW Space and Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, CA to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999. The decision followed extensive testing and a thorough independent review of the potential problem with several printed circuit boards which revealed the need to replace two circuit boards in the interface unit, a part of the command and data management system. After the circuit boards are rebuilt by B.F. Goodrich Aerospace, Davis Systems Division in Albuquerque, NM, the unit will be reinstalled in the observatory at the Kennedy Space Center.

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Revised: 02/24/99

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Mission Milestones

JANUARY 20, 1999 - NASA announced that it will delay the planned shipment of the Chandra X-ray Observatory from TRW in Redondo Beach, CA to the Kennedy Space Center, FL. The postponement will allow TRW to evaluate and correct a potential problem with several printed circuit boards in the observatory's command and data management system.

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Revised: 02/24/99

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Mission Milestones

JANUARY 14, 1999 - TRW unveiled the completed Chandra X-ray Observatory for reporters. The ceremonial "rollout" was held at the company's satellite integration facilities in Redondo Beach, CA. In late January Chandra will be shipped to Kennedy Space Center, FL.

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Revised: 02/24/99

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Mission Milestones

DECEMBER 21, 1998 - AXAF has been renamed the Chandra X-ray Observatory in honor of the late Indian-American Nobel laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. The Observatory will be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, FL, on or before Jan. 28 and launched no earlier than April 8, 1999. The launch date will depend upon the actual shipping date and the results of a mid-February independent review of progress towards preparing the Cambridge, MA, operations center for launch.

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Revised: 02/24/99

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Mission Milestones

OCTOBER 13, 1998: NASA will delay shipment of AXAF from TRW Space and Electronics Group, CA, to Kennedy Space Center, FL, alllowing additional time for TRW to complete testing of the observatory and to replace an electrical switching box. The remaining testing includes trouble-shooting and de-bugging some elements of the ground test and flight software. New shipment and launch dates will be confirmed after a review by NASA Chief Engineer Dr. Daniel Mulville.

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Revised: 02/24/99

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Mission Milestones

JULY 7, 1998: AXAF has successfully completed its thermal vacuum test at TRW's satellite integration facilities in Redondo Beach, CA. This test, the last major test before delivery to Cape Canaveral, allowed the AXAF contractor team to test satellite's hardware and software under operational conditions.

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/24/99

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Mission Milestones

MARCH 12, 1998: Assembly of AXAF was completed last week at TRW with the installation of its power-generating twin solar panels. The observatory is on schedule for launch aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-93 in December 1998.

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/24/99

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Mission Milestones

FEBRUARY 13, 1998: NASA is now planning a 3 December launch of AXAF. TRW officials say they are "solidly on track" for a late summer delivery to Cape Canaveral.

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Revised: 02/24/99

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Mission Milestones

NOVEMBER 1997: TRW Space and Electronics Group at Redondo Beach, CA has notified NASA that it has experienced delays in assembly and testing of AXAF. The delay is primarily due to TRW's difficulty in configuring and programming its Integrated Spacecraft Automated Test System to test the observatory before it is delivered to NASA. It is anticipated that the launch of AXAF, originally scheduled for August 1998, will be pushed back to November 1998.

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Revised: 02/24/99

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Mission Milestones

JUNE - OCTOBER 1997 The Mirror Assembly has been shipped to the Space and Electronics Group at TRW, Inc., Redondo Beach, California, where it will be integrated with the spacecraft. The Science Instruments have been shipped to Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colorado, where they will be inserted into the science instrument module. In October of 1997, the instruments and the module are due at TRW in Redondo Beach. There the instruments will be put together with the spacecraft and mirror assembly, and the observatory will be tested as a unit for six months before being shipped to Cape Canaveral where it will undergo still more tests in preparation for the 1999 launch.

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/17/99

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Mission Milestones

MARCH - MAY 1997 The testing of the Scientific Instruments was completed in May of 1997. The thousands of individual tests that were performed on the instruments showed that they will enable astronomers to make X-ray images of the hot regions of the universe with unprecedented sharpness and sensitivity.

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Revised: 02/24/99

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Mission Milestones

DECEMBER 1996 - MARCH 1997 In early March 1997, the AXAF support team at Marshall Space Flight Center completed a series of rigorous tests of the X-ray Mirror Assembly at the X-ray calibration facility (XRCF) which was constructed specifically for testing AXAF.

The tests show that when the AXAF telescope is in space, it will produce X-ray images twenty-five times sharper than any previous X-ray telescope. The telescope's resolution is equivalent to being able to read the text of a newspaper from half a mile away.

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/24/99

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Mission Milestones

FEBRUARY - DECEMBER 1996 The coated mirrors were transported by an air-ride truck to Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York, where they were assembled into a support structure and precisely aligned. From New York the telescope system was put aboard a C5 military transport aircraft, flown to Huntsville, Alabama, and delivered to the Marshall Space Flight Center. (See Telescope System and J. Johnston & B. Hahn Interview for more detail.)

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Revised: 02/24/99

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Telescope System

The Chandra telescope system consists of four pairs of mirrors and their support structure.

X-ray telescopes must be very different from optical telescopes. Because of their high energy, X-ray photons penetrate into a mirror in much the same way that bullets slam into a wall. Likewise, just as bullets ricochet when they hit a wall at a grazing angle, so too will X-rays ricochet off mirrors. The mirrors have to be exquisitely shaped and aligned nearly parallel to incoming X-rays. Thus they look more like glass barrels than the familiar dish shape of optical telescopes.

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 11/02/98

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A schematic of the grazing incidence x-ray telescope, showing how the x-rays ricochet off the mirrors. Return to Telescope System

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Illustration of the barrel-shaped mirrors, which are aligned nearly parallel to incoming x-rays. Return to Telescope System

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Telescope System

Imagine making the surface of the Earth so smooth that the highest mountain was less than two meters (78 inches) tall! On a much smaller scale, the scientists and engineers at Raytheon Optical Systems in Danbury, Connecticut accomplished an equivalent feat when they polished and ground the four pairs of Chandra mirrors to the smoothness of a few atoms. Not to be outdone, the scientists and engineers at Optical Coating Laboratories, Inc., in Santa Rosa, California also surpassed expectations. After the mirrors were carefully moved to California via an air-ride moving van, they were painstakingly cleaned--to the equivalent of at most one speck of dust on an area the size of your computer screen. Then they were coated with the highly reflective rare metal, iridium.

The successful grinding, polishing and coating of the Chandra mirrors were historic technical accomplishments. They are the smoothest and cleanest mirrors ever made. The mirrors were moved again across the country--same moving van, same husband/wife driving team and three support vehicles --to Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York, where they were assembled into a support structure called the high resolution mirror assembly and aligned with exquisite precision. The alignment of the mirrors from one end of the mirror assembly to the other (2.7 meters or 9 feet) is accurate to 1.3 microns (50 millionths of an inch) or about one fiftieth the width of a human hair! The successful completion of the high resolution mirror assembly at Eastman Kodak in September 1996, was one of the major accomplishments in the development of Chandra. Page 1 | 2 | 3

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 11/02/98

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Coating the mirrors at Optical Coating Laboratories, Inc. Return to Telescope System

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Telescope System

In November the telescope system was put aboard a C5 military transport aircraft, flown to Huntsville, Alabama, and delivered to the Marshall Space Flight Center. There the telescope system and the scientific instruments were put through thousands of individual tests in an X-ray calibration facility especially constructed for this purpose by the Chandra support team at Marshall Space Flight Center. The tests show that Chandra will produce X-ray images 25 times sharper than previous X-ray telescopes. The telescope's resolution is equivalent to being able to read the text of a newspaper from half a mile away. After the telescope was calibrated, it was flown to TRW in Redondo Beach, California. There the telescope system, instruments, and spacecraft will be put together and tested for space-worthiness. Finally, in 1999 the whole observatory will be flown to Cape Canaveral and placed on the space shuttle for its last ride, into space.

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Phone: 617.496.7941 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/17/99

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FACE-TO-FACE with Jerry Johnston, AXAF Program Manager & Bob Hahn, Chief Engineer at Optical Coating Laboratories, Inc., Santa Rosa, CA December 11, 1995

Background: One of the crucial steps in the fabrication of the AXAF mirrors is the coating process. After application of a very thin base layer of chromium, the mirrors are coated with iridium, a rare metal that is more reflective than gold. The layers are required to be uniform to within a millionth of an inch. As program manager and chief engineer at OCLI, Jerry Johnston and Bob Hahn were in charge of coating the mirrors. We interviewed Johnston and Hahn at OCLI in December of 1995, when they were nearing the end of the process. What was the biggest challenge you encountered in coating the mirrors? BOB HAHN: Keeping the glass clean. We had to develop a very strict protocol to keep the glass adequately clean of particulate and organic contaminants. Exactly how clean did you have to get them? JERRY JOHNSTON: Less than 0.001 percent of the area could be covered with particles of any kind. Put another way, they had to be 99.999% clean. How did you clean the glass? BOB HAHN: Just like you wash your car. You hose it down, wash it with a detergent and wash it again. And again. And again. And after it's clean? JERRY JOHNSTON: It's a full time job to keep it clean. It is moved to the Clean Room and prepared for coating. How clean is the clean room? JOHNSTON: It is better than Class 100, which means that it is 5,000 times fewer particles per cubic centimeter than a normal clean office. As soon as possible we move the glass into the coating facility. The mirrors are coated first with chromium, which is a binding layer, and then with iridium. HAHN: The coatings are extremely thin. The chromium is about a millionth of a centimeter thick, and the iridium layer is about 3 millionths of a centimeter, or a millionth of an inch thick. http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/johnston.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:50:27 AM] Chandra Press Room - Interview with Jerry Johnston & Bob Hahn How does this compare with a good bathroom mirror? HAHN: The reflective layer on a bathroom mirror is about ten times thicker--and much rougher. Our surface must be smooth to within a few atoms. Why is iridium used? HAHN: TRW (the prime contractor for AXAF) had the SAO mission support team do a sample program. They tested nickel, gold, platinum and iridium. Iridium proved to be the best choice for reflecting X-rays. Could you describe the coating process? JOHNSTON: After we finish cleaning the glass, we put it into a vacuum chamber and take it down to less than a billionth of atmospheric pressure. We want to deposit the material onto the glass as uniformly as possible, so we don't want any turbulence or cloud formation in the chamber or condensation onto the glass. Once the high vacuum has been achieved, we lower a thin sheet of iridium into the chamber. Then we direct a beam of ions (charged particles) onto this sheet. The beam knocks the iridium atoms off the sheet and they drift onto the glass, which is rotating very slowly to ensure a uniform coating. The actual coating process takes a little less than an hour. What happens to the mirror after it is coated? JOHNSTON: After the mirror is coated, it is never touched again by anyone here or anywhere else. In the Clean Room, it is packaged and stored for transport to Eastman Kodak in Rochester, New York. Inside the storage container, a steady flow of nitrogen gas at about one mile per hour is directed across the mirrors to keep them free from contaminants. How are the mirrors transported to Rochester? JOHNSTON: In an Air-Ride Van. A husband and wife team do all the driving. They go in a convoy with four vehicles--a lead vehicle, a motor home with equipment that monitors the acceleration, the temperature and so forth in the van, the moving van, and a following vehicle. When will the coating be complete? JOHNSTON: We are scheduled to deliver the last pair of mirrors in February. Right now we are ahead of schedule.

NOTE: The last pair of mirrors were delivered to Eastman Kodak on February 12, 1996. The OCLI coating work exceeded specifications; the AXAF mirrors received the cleanest and smoothest mirror coating ever produced.

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[ Press Index ] [ Interviews ]

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Revised: 11/13/98

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Last Modified: July 6, 1998

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Last Modified: July 6, 1998

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Last Modified: July 6, 1998

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Mission Milestones

JULY 1995 - FEBRUARY 1996 The coating of the mirrors with iridium, a rare metal more reflective than gold, was successfully completed in early February of 1996, by Optical Coating Laboratories, Inc. in Santa Rosa, California. (See Telescope System for more detail.)

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Revised: 02/24/99

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Mission Milestones

DECEMBER 1991 - JULY 1995 The grinding and polishing of the four pairs of grazing-incidence mirrors were completed at Raytheon Optical Systems ahead of schedule. Measurements indicate that the mirrors exceed specifications at essentially all energies. (See Telescope System for more details.)

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Revised: 02/24/99

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/graphics/about/optician2m.gif [5/24/1999 9:50:42 AM] Chandra Coffee Break: AXAF in Context: A Revolution

AXAF in Context: A Revolution

by Martin Elvis, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA

AXAF has been a long time, 20 years, in coming. This has made it hard to see how revolutionary AXAF is. Some even describe AXAF as the end of the line in X-ray technology; a never to be repeated venture to high resolution. This view is wrong. To see why, we need to see where X-ray astrophysics is going. It should not be controversial to say that X-ray Astrophysics has barely begun. Today's X-ray satellites have scored many successes; yet astronomers still extract very little of the information carried to us by X-ray photons. The excellent imaging and detailed spectral capabilities routinely available in optical astronomy, have not even begun to be used in X-ray astronomy. AXAF is our first step into that world. Eventually X-ray telescopes will be built that have all three qualities needed to let us use the full power of physics on celestial sources of X-rays: many square meters of mirror area; imaging like Hubble Space Telescope; and the ability to discriminate features in spectra separated by only 1 part on 10,000 of wavelength. Then the riches of atomic physics in the X-ray band known from the Sun, laboratories, and theory, can be exploited for all classes of X-ray sources, so we can truly understand how they work. Getting there is the problem. AXAF takes the first step toward this goal by combining two of the needed qualities: excellent imaging and detailed spectral ability. AXAF will show us where X-ray astrophysics can go. In this context we can recognize AXAF for what it is - a revolution. I will try to give you an idea just how revolutionary. The focusing ability of the AXAF optics puts AXAF in a separate league from all other X-ray missions - past, present or planned. This better than planned performance is thanks to Hughes-Danbury, Kodak, and the AXAF Mirror Scientist, Leon van Speybroeck. The spread of a beam of X-rays due to the AXAF mirrors is one hundredth that of the previous X-ray telescope. Add to this the spectral resolution of AXAF and you have an X-ray observatory of unprecedented sensitivity and resolution, angular and spectral. The deepest AXAF surveys will reach twenty times fainter than any previous X-ray telescope. This is uncharted territory. We can confidently expect a thousand X-ray sources in every patch of sky the size of the Moon. And each AXAF exposure takes an image of just about that size, though usually less deep. Whenever one can image 100 times the detail of any previous telescope

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/coffee1.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:50:51 AM] Chandra Coffee Break: AXAF in Context: A Revolution extraordinary things will be found. The improvement brought by AXAF is equal to that of going from telescopes on Earth to the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble images often give me the feeling of looking up the answer in the back of the book. These images tell us that there is structure on every scale in astrophysics. Many of the same Hubble objects are also bright X-ray sources. Surely they won't lose all their structure when we look with X-rays? AXAF is the first X-ray telescope that has good imaging and good spectra at the same time. This makes it possible to isolate structures, even the sinuous shock fronts in supernova remnants and clusters of galaxies, and extract their distinctive spectra, free of confusing glare from their surroundings. With AXAF's orders of magnitude advances in imaging power, in fine spectral discrimination, and in both simultaneously, we can expect surprises: complex spectra will show up in unusual places; many spectra will show features that are simply unknown, since laboratory work on Earth has covered only a little of the atomic structure which we will encounter with AXAF; and many sources now thought of as simple will show complex images, even whole new types of source. For example, Hubble has shown that in Orion, the disks around newly formed stars - which will eventually form planets - are being evaporated by nearby bright stars. Since the bright stars are also bright X-ray sources, it is a simple prediction that these evaporating proto-planetary disks will also be shining in fluorescent X-rays. This will give us a whole new way to study what these disks are made of and, some day, how they are rotating. Both technologically and scientifically AXAF is like Hubble: both achieved 10 times improved resolution by using heavy, rigid mirrors that were limited in size by their weight. But both demonstrate that high resolution is possible, not end of the line. Scientifically, both let us see how complex, yet comprehensible, the universe is. There will be no going back to less resolution, once we have seen Hubble and AXAF images. How do we get to more area with high resolution? Where should we push on first? A first step is NASA's proposed Constellation-X mission. With approximately 3 square meters of mirror area it will will be thirty times bigger than AXAF, while maintaining good spectral resolution. However angular resolution will be limited. What is next? The stumbling block are X-ray mirrors: we need 10 square meters of effective area, yet must maintain arcsecond resolution and be light in weight. Work on this challenging goal is beginning in Europe, under the "XEUS" banner. Discussions in the NASA community are just beginning. Certainly if we do not begin to develop the technology for such a mission X-ray astronomy will wait another 20 years before fulfilling the promise of the AXAF revolution. After launch AXAF will quickly become a user driven observatory. Calibration observations will be public at once. From the 5th month onward 70% of the time will be for Guest investigators, increasing later to 85%. This time is competed for eagerly: for every observation accepted, 6 must be rejected. But don't despair, AXAF is designed to last a long time, so there will be other

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/coffee1.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:50:51 AM] Chandra Coffee Break: AXAF in Context: A Revolution chances. AXAF is here at last. Enjoy it. - END -

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 11/13/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/coffee1.html (3 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:50:51 AM] Chandra Press Room - Interview with the Director, February 11, 1999

An INTERVIEW with Dr. Harvey Tananbaum on the Chandra Launch Delays

February 11, 1999, in Cambridge, MA.

After staying on schedule for an August 28, 1998 launch date for five years, the launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory has slipped several times. We talked to Dr. Harvey Tananbaum, Director of the Chandra X-ray Observatory Center about these delays.

Q: When did you first realize that the Chandra Observatory would not be launched on the originally scheduled date?

TANANBAUM: In the Fall of 1997, TRW encountered problems with the software they had developed to test the spacecraft. In spite of added manpower, incentives, and a reorganization of the management, these problems caused a slip in schedule to a December 3, 1998 launch date.

Q: We talked to TRW and other Chandra officials in April of 1998, and they were confident they would make the December ‘98 launch date. What happened?

TANANBAUM: Several things. In June of ‘98, during the course of a routine test, the door to one of the science instruments, the CCD Imaging Spectrometer, failed to open. It stuck and a fail-safe disk within the wax actuator burst, so the actuator could not open the door. Exactly why the door stuck was never determined. Most people believe that the O-ring seal on the door stuck, and the problem was compounded because we tried to open the door cold, which would not have happened in orbit. The testing could not find the reason for sticking. They ruled out every possibility. You would have concluded from the tests that the door must have opened!

Q: What has been done to ensure that this problem doesn't recur in orbit?

TANANBAUM: The mechanism that opens the door has been rebuilt and modified, and the door will be opened gradually to http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/harvey_021199.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:50:54 AM] Chandra Press Room - Interview with the Director, February 11, 1999 prevent the safety disk from bursting even if the O-ring sticks a little. In addition, the door will be opened at a warmer temperature.

Q: Were other problems cropping up at this time?

TANANBAUM: Yes. More software delays, related to safe mode testing. For example, you want to keep the telescope from pointing to the sun in event of a failure, or keep the solar panels pointed toward the sun. Software is used to simulate a failure, for example a gyro failure, and then the onboard software is supposed to solve the problems that may arise from this failure. All the software needed for this activity turned out to be more complicated than expected. The net effect of the software and the door problems was that the launch slipped to January 23, 1999.

Q: Then in October the launch date slipped again.

TANANBAUM: Yes, this was just before the spacecraft was due to be shipped to Kennedy Space Center to prepare for launch. The safe mode testing still wasn't complete and there was a problem with some electrical switching boxes that switch power on and off between various components of the spacecraft. In addition, some timing synchronization problems cropped up in the interface unit which handles communications between the onboard computers and other parts of the spacecraft. NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science, Ed Weiler, decided that these problem should be fixed at TRW rather than at Kennedy. This pushed the launch back until April15. Everything was fixed ahead of schedule. TRW got ready to ship in early January and then other problems surfaced.

Q: What were the nature of these problems?

TANANBAUM: They were discovered while testing another satellite built by TRW. This satellite has some of the same components as Chandra. Small printed circuits boards were found to be faulty. It turns out that Chandra has 129 of these boards. Fortunately only four required replacement. New boards were fabricated at the subcontractor, B. F. Goodrich. Two of the boards have been installed in their unit and are undergoing testing at Goodrich. The other two boards will be installed in their unit soon. After testing, all the boards will be re-installed in Chandra at Kennedy Space Center in early March. In the meantime the observatory was put in a protective bag and shipped to Kennedy Space Center on February 4.

Q: Do these delays pose any danger to the instruments or other components? http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/harvey_021199.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:50:54 AM] Chandra Press Room - Interview with the Director, February 11, 1999

TANANBAUM: The major worry is contamination, which is why Chandra was put in a protective bag, and why all the work on it is done in a clean room.

Q: What is the anticipated launch date?

TANANBAUM: We are now working toward a July 9 launch.

[ Press Index ] [ Interviews ]

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/16/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/harvey_021199.html (3 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:50:54 AM] Chandra Press Room - Interview with the Director, August 26, 1997

An INTERVIEW with Dr. Harvey Tananbaum, Director AXAF Science Center

August 26, 1997

ASCPUB: A lot has happened in the last twelve months. HT: It has been the busiest year so far for the ASC. The AXAF team successfully completed the calibration of the telescope, the two objective grating assemblies, and the two focal plane science instruments. TRW, the prime contractor for AXAF, was responsible for the overall test and Marshall (NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL) was responsible for building the testing facility. The SAO Mission Support Team, under separate contract to MSFC, built special detectors used to test the telescope. The ASC was set up as the hub for planning of the calibration. The ASC and the MSFC Project Scientist team, with the help of the Science Instrument teams, listed the tests to be made, scheduled them, and then evaluated the test results in near real-time. The testing itself was an intense effort. We literally had thousands of tests to make and a limited time in which to do them. We kept the XRCF (the X-ray Calibration Facility at Marshall Space Flight Center) running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. ASCPUB: What were some of the high points of the calibration? HT: One of the high points, probably the high point, was first light. Around the th ird week of December, we pumped the air out of the vacuum chamber and waited a few hours until we were sure all the contaminants had been cleared out of the chamber. By this time it was well after midnight. We woke up a few of the team members who had been with the project a long time so they could share the experience with us. Then we opened the covers to the mirrors and exposed them to X-rays for the first time. We adjusted the focus and there it was, a nice sharp image, just like we had predicted. It was a very exciting time. ASCPUB: Did the tests reveal things you didn't expect? HT: Nothing major, and that is very good news. Because of the http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/harvey3.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:50:57 AM] Chandra Press Room - Interview with the Director, August 26, 1997 testing we know we have the best X-ray mirrors ever made, and the most sensitive X-ray detectors. Of course there were many things we learned about the performance of the telescope that we couldn't have learned any other way. For example, the upper and lower parts of the mirror are not centered exactly alike, so the efficiency of the upper part is about ten percent greater than the lower part. Because of calibration, we now understand that effect and can correct for it. Otherwise, every image we made would have been off by a few percent and we wouldn't have known it. ASCPUB: Were there any major crises? HT: The most significant crisis was of a personal nature after the testing had been completed, when Martin Weisskopf (the AXAF Project Scientist at Marshall Space Flight Center) had a heart attack. This followed a very intense and stressful five-month test period. Fortunately, Martin is now fully recovered and even back to his daily basketball game. ASCPUB: The testing must have been exhausting for everyone, given the round-the-clock schedule and the complexity of the job. HT: In one way it was. In my case for example, I would often work here (at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) Monday through Thursday, catch the plane to Huntsville in time for the three-to-midnight shift, work that shift through Sunday night and fly back to Cambridge. In another way though, it was an exhilarating and energizing process, seeing it all come together and actually work, so you didn't realize how hard you were working. All in all it was a very satisfying experience, seeing how all the different groups learned to work together --- TRW, Marshall Project Science, the science instrument teams and the ASC. It built up a camaraderie that will stand us in good stead in the year ahead as we integrate the telescope and science instruments with the spacecraft and get ready for launch, which is about a year away.

[ Press Index ] [ Interviews ]

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/harvey3.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:50:57 AM] Chandra Press Room - Interview with the Director, August 26, 1997

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 11/13/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/harvey3.html (3 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:50:57 AM] Chandra Press Room - Interview with the Director, August 26, 1996

An INTERVIEW with Dr. Harvey Tananbaum, Director AXAF Science Center

August 26, 1996

Background: The Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) is scheduled for launch aboard the Space Shuttle in August 1998. We present here the second of a series of interviews with Dr. Harvey Tananbaum, Director of the AXAF Science Center, on the status of the project. A major accomplishment during the period from August 95 to August 96 was the coating of the mirrors at Optical Coating Laboratories, Inc. in Santa Rosa, California. The mirrors were painstakingly cleaned and then precisely coated with layers of chromium and iridium, less than a millionth of an inch thick. The successful grinding, polishing and coating of the AXAF mirrors were historic technical accomplishments. They are the smoothest and cleanest mirrors ever made. After the coating process was completed, the mirrors were transported by air-ride van to Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York, where they are being assembled into a support structure called the high resolution mirror assembly and aligned with one another. Other important tasks underway during this time were the development of the scientific instruments which will record the direction of arrival and the distribution with energy of the X-rays focused by the mirrors, as well as the spacecraft module that will house the instruments and electronics that enable the data to be transmitted back to Earth.

ASCPUB: When we talked to you about a year ago, the X-ray mirrors were scheduled to be coated. We understand that it went well. HT:The coating was very successful. All the mirrors met the

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/harvey2.html (1 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:50:59 AM] Chandra Press Room - Interview with the Director, August 26, 1996 requirements, and the job was completed essentially on schedule. X-ray measurements on witness samples in our labs at SAO (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) by Dr. Suzanne Romaine and her team confirmed the excellent quality of the coatings. Everyone was very pleased with OCLI (Optical Coating Laboratories, Inc., in Santa Rosa, CA.). We will use them again if the opportunity arises. ASCPUB: How are other aspects of the program going? HT: This has been a challenging year in four areas: the construction of the mirror assembly, development of the CCD detectors, building the science instrument module; and keeping the weight on the observatory down. Ball (Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation) had to deal with a number of issues involving the structural integrity and thermal design of the science instrument module. The weight of the ACIS (AXAF CCD Imaging Spectrometer) went up by approximately 50 pounds, further complicating the situation. ASCPUB: Is this increase in weight a problem? HT: It has been a challenge to the team because the overall increase has put us close to the limit allowed for the focal plane end of the observatory. The limit involves both the maximum weight that can be carried and the vibration loads to be experienced in the Shuttle. We had to update the predicted vibration loads taking into account the increased weight and other updates to the Observatory design. All of this resulted in a schedule impact as well. ASCPUB: Will the delays on the science instrument module impact the testing schedule? HT: No. We were able to rearrange the sequence of events and Ball built a special carrier to support and move the science instruments at the X-ray Calibration Facility at Marshall Space Flight Center. After calibration at MSFC, the science instruments will be shipped to Ball around July 1997 for integration into the science instrument module, so the overall program schedule or the August 1998 launch date will not be impacted. ASCPUB: How about ACIS? HT: They (the Penn State/MIT Consortium) fell behind schedule for several reasons. They had difficulty in getting good CCD (charged-coupled devices, electronic semiconductors used in digital imaging devices on telescopes and in digital cameras and camcorders) chips, then they encountered a series of technical and personnel issues--the launch of the Rossi XTE (X-ray Timing Explorer) satellite was delayed; that prevented a few key people from joining the ACIS team at the anticipated time--and finally, the flexprints, or connectors that link the CCDs to the data processors, failed during testing. They seem to have all that http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/harvey2.html (2 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:50:59 AM] Chandra Press Room - Interview with the Director, August 26, 1996 straightened out and to be coming along for a delivery of one unit in early March and the full set of flight CCDs in early April. ASCPUB: How did the mirror assembly at Kodak go? HT: The assembly of the mirrors was one of the most technically demanding tasks of the entire program. At least as challenging as the grinding and polishing of the mirrors. That's why we practiced with the VETA (Verification Engineering Test Article). Four pairs of heavy, fragile mirrors had to be aligned to an accuracy of a tenth of an arc second. That is equivalent to aligning them to an accuracy of about a fiftieth of the width of a human hair. Yet they had to be secure enough to survive launch--an incredibly difficult engineering feat. ASCPUB: What sort of difficulties did they encounter? HT: One example will give you an idea of what they were up against. To minimize the distortion due to gravity, they assembled and aligned the mirrors in a vertical orientation in a 60-foot tall tower. They used lasers and mirrors to test the alignment. They found that the body heat of the technicians changed the air temperature by a fraction of a degree and threw off the measurements. Opening and closing the door to the tower would set up air currents that would cause errors. Or turning the light in the tower on and off. So, they left a bank of eight fluorescent bulbs on all the time. The problem was that these light, which were ten feet away, caused temperature differences of a few hundredths of a degree, enough to change the local density of the air, its index of refraction, or ability to bend light, and produced a mirage effect which changed the focus of the test beam ever so slightly. So they had to set up a procedure wherein they kept the lights on only for three or four minutes at a time. That's the kind of problem they had to deal with, day in and day out. ASCPUB: But they met the challenge. HT: It appears that they have. But we won't know for sure until we finish the testing at the X-ray calibration facility at Marshall. As I said in the beginning, it has been a challenging year, but I like to think that the team is meeting the challenges. A program like this doesn't run without difficulties. We have overcome these difficulties. I hope that we are as effective in dealing with whatever crops up over the next year.

For more on the Kodak assembly of the HRMA, visit their website.

[ Press Index ] [ Interviews ]

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/harvey2.html (3 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:50:59 AM] Chandra Press Room - Interview with the Director, August 26, 1996

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/19/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/harvey2.html (4 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:50:59 AM] Chandra Press Room - Meet the Director

An INTERVIEW with Dr. Harvey Tananbaum, Director AXAF Science Center

August 29, 1995

Background: The Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) is scheduled for launch aboard the Space Shuttle in August, 1998. A crucial component of the AXAF X-ray observatory is the four pairs of nested cylindrical mirrors. They must be shaped, ground and polished to tolerances of a few parts in ten million making them the smoothest mirrors ever built.

ASCPUB: Could you give us an update of the progress this year on the mirrors for the AXAF X-ray telescope? We have had a very positive year. We finished working on all the glass (for the mirrors). The grinding, the shaping, the polishing, the smoothing--all of the work at Hughes Danbury (Hughes Danbury Optical Systems) was completed before the first of the year, a few months ahead of schedule. We exceeded the contract requirements and goals by a significant factor. ASCPUB: Does this mean that the scientific capability of the telescope will be better than expected? A lot, lot better. The images will be very sharp across the entire energy range of x-rays to be observed by AXAF and the data will be easier to analyze. ASCPUB: To what do you attribute this accomplishment? We are reaping the rewards of the efforts funded by NASA over the last two decades for work on x-ray optics. Many of the scientists involved in that work, such as telescope scientist Leon Van Speybroeck, have been intimately involved at every step of the way on this project. And the performance of the scientists, engineers and managers at Hughes Danbury was outstanding. The improvement in know-how to make the mirrors from one set of mirrors to the next was fantastic. The first mirror took 6 or 7 polishing runs to finish. The last ones took 2 or 3. It is a shame that we don't have a follow-up mission so we can keep the team together. http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/harvey.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:51:02 AM] Chandra Press Room - Meet the Director ASCPUB:What is the next step? As the mirrors have been completed, they have been shipped to Optical Coatings Laboratory, Inc. in California to be coated with iridium to improve their efficiency for collecting and focussing x-rays. This is also a very challenging and critical procedure. The coating must preserve the smoothness of the mirrors, and they must remain absolutely clean afterwards. ASCPUB: How is the coating going? The third mirror (out of eight overall) is scheduled for coating the first week in September and from all indications, the work is going very well, meeting or slightly exceeding all of the specifications.

[ Press Index ] [ Interviews ]

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 11/13/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/harvey.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:51:02 AM] Chandra Press Room - Spokesman-Review Article: Dec 22, 1998

Star student makes name for himself

(The Spokesman-Review December 22, 1998)

Teen's essay helps christen telescope Susan Drumheller - The Spokesman-Review PRIEST RIVER, Idaho _ Ty Johnson tries not to think about Chandra too much. It hurts his concentration in school. Chandra's no cheerleader, either. That's the name of the next big

telescope to be launched into Kathy Plonka - The Spokesman-Review space, and Johnson helped Ty Johnson will boldly go to a shuttle launch in name it. April. Johnson, a Priest River Lamanna High School sophomore, entered NASA's contest to name the X-ray observatory when he was a freshman. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is announcing the winners today. Johnson is the co-winner with a high school physics teacher from Camarillo, Calif. Of the 6,000 entries, about 50 offered the name Chandra or Chandrasekhar, honoring Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, a Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist who died in 1995. ``It was stiff competition,'' said Wallace Tucker of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., will operate the telescope for NASA. ``We used the essay as a tie-breaker,'' Tucker explained. A panel of top scientists, professors and national science writers judged the contest. Johnson's essay spoke of Chandrasekhar's accomplishments and

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/spoke_122298.html (1 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:51:06 AM] Chandra Press Room - Spokesman-Review Article: Dec 22, 1998 captured the essence of the project, Tucker said. Chandrasekhar studied the death of stars -- black holes and white dwarfs. It's those cosmic mysteries that the Chandra X-ray Observatory is designed to investigate. The $1.4 billion telescope will be 100 times stronger than any other X-ray telescopes launched into space and will see things the Hubble telescope couldn't. Specifically, Chandra will read X-rays from superheated material in the universe, such as colliding galaxies, supernova remnants and the materials swirling toward black holes. Johnson's essay ``was so good that some people wondered if he did it,'' Tucker said. So Tucker checked it out. He called Johnson and quizzed him. He asked about the ``Braunschweiger'' calculator that Chandrasekhar used to calculate maximum mass for a white dwarf star, which Johnson wrote about. ``We didn't know what it was. I asked him where he got this,'' Tucker recalled. The answer was a college-level book by Kip Thorn, who spells the Brunsviga calculator as Braunschweiger. ``He picked up that name, which only a person who read the book could have done, so I knew it was his own work,'' Tucker said. But anyone who knows Johnson would also know that it's not unusual for him to tackle reading material and academic subjects well beyond his sophomore level. He's enrolled this semester in a senior physics class as an elective. ``At first they weren't sure about having a sophomore in the class, but now it's fine,'' said the soft-spoken Johnson. Now, he said, the seniors are talking about throwing him a congratulatory party. ``He's a teacher's dream student,'' said science teacher Rick Alm. ``He'd come in after school just to have conversations about things -- things like astrophysics. Things other students would be bored with.'' Alm was the catalyst for Johnson's contest entry. Alm had just returned from a national science teachers convention in Las Vegas last spring and spread word of the contest. Johnson was the only student interested in entering. He pestered Alm to remember to bring the paperwork to school from home. ``This guy is great,'' Alm said of Johnson. ``He's going to go places.'' First, he'll go to Cape Canaveral this April with his father, Mark

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/spoke_122298.html (2 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:51:06 AM] Chandra Press Room - Spokesman-Review Article: Dec 22, 1998 Johnson, to watch the launch of the space shuttle Columbia, which is carrying Chandra into orbit. He'll be presented with a plaque signed by Daniel Goldin, the head of NASA, and may even be able to meet some astronauts, Tucker said. But perhaps the biggest reward is knowing that he named a telescope that's probing the depths of space for answers to questions he often finds himself pondering. Chandra -- which means ``moon'' or ``luminous'' in Sanskrit -- may be the launching pad for a teen's imagination and future career. ``I'd like to be a theoretical physicist,'' said the starry-eyed youth. ``Questions like cosmology, big-bang, black holes. What happens in a black hole, you know, quantum gravity. It's a big question of the times.'' •Susan Drumheller can be reached at (208) 263-6441 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Facts about the Chandra X-ray Observatory

•Chandra will fly 200 times higher than Hubble -- more than one-third of the way to the moon. •Chandra will be observing X-rays from clouds of gas so vast that it takes 5 million light years to go from one side to the other. •At 45 feet long, Chandra is the largest satellite the shuttle has ever launched. It barely fits in the shuttle bay. •The space shuttle Columbia mission STS-93, which will carry Chandra to its orbit, will be commanded by astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman shuttle commander. •If the Earth's surface were polished to the same smoothness as Chandra's mirrors, Mount Everest would be less than 6 feet tall. •The electrical power required to operate the Chandra spacecraft and instruments is 2 kilowatts, about the same power as a hair dryer. •Chandra's resolving power is equal to the ability to read a newspaper at a distance of a half-mile. •Chandra can observe particles up to the last second before they fall into a black hole. •The Chandra website is http://chandra.harvard.edu.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/spoke_122298.html (3 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:51:06 AM] Chandra Press Room - Spokesman-Review Article: Dec 22, 1998

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 12/23/98

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/spoke_122298.html (4 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:51:06 AM] Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheet: May, 1999

Exploring The Invisible Universe: The Chandra X-ray Observatory

(May 1999)

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 05/17/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/fact3.html [5/24/1999 9:51:09 AM] Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheet: July 14, 1998

Fact Sheet: May 1999

Exploring The Invisible Universe: The Chandra X-ray Observatory

To the human eye, space appears serene and void. It is neither.

To the "eye" of an X-ray telescope, the universe is totally different – a violent, vibrant, and ever-changing place. Temperatures can reach millions of degrees. Objects are accelerated by gravity to nearly the speed of light and magnetic fields more than a trillion times stronger than the Earth’s cause some stars to crack and tremble.

NASA’s newest space telescope, called the Chandra X-ray Observatory, will allow scientists from around the world to obtain unprecedented X-ray images of these and other exotic environments to help understand the structure and evolution of the universe. The observatory will not only help to probe these mysteries, but also will serve as a unique tool to study detailed physics in a laboratory that cannot be replicated here on earth – the universe itself. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has every prospect of rewriting textbooks and helping technology advance in the coming decade. The Chandra X-ray Observatory will provide unique and crucial information on the nature of objects ranging from comets in our solar system to quasars at the edge of the observable universe. The observatory should provide long-sought answers to some major scientific questions, such as: ● What and where is the "Dark Matter" in our universe? The largest and most massive objects in the universe are galaxy clusters - enormous collections of galaxies, some like our own. These galaxies are bound together into a cluster by gravity. Much of their mass is in the form of an incredibly hot, X-ray emitting gas that fills the entire space between the galaxies. Yet, neither the mass of the galaxies, nor the mass of the hot X-ray gas is enough to provide the gravity that we know holds the cluster together. X-ray observations with the Chandra X-ray Observatory will map the location of the dark matter and help us to identify it. ● What is the powerhouse driving the explosive activity in many distant galaxies? The centers of many distant galaxies are incredible sources of energy and radiation – especially X-rays. Scientists theorize that massive black holes are at the center of these active galaxies, gobbling up any material – even a whole star – that passes too close. Detailed studies with the Chandra X-ray Observatory can probe the faintest of these active galaxies, and study not only how their energy output changes with time, but also how these objects produce their intense energy emissions in the first place.

Since X-rays are absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere, space-based observatories are necessary to study these phenomena. To meet this scientific challenge, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, NASA’s most powerful X-ray telescope, is scheduled for launch in 1999. Complementing two other space observatories now orbiting Earth – the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory – this observatory will study X-rays rather than visible light or gamma rays. By capturing images created by these invisible rays, the observatory will allow scientists to analyze some of the greatest mysteries of the universe. Named in honor of the late Indian-American Nobel Laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/fact3-1.html (1 of 5) [5/24/1999 9:51:14 AM] Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheet: July 14, 1998 the observatory was formerly known as the Advance X-ray Astrophysics Facility. The Chandra X-ray Observatory will be carried into low Earth orbit by the Space Shuttle Columbia. The observatory will be deployed from the shuttle’s cargo bay at 155 miles above the Earth. Two firings of an attached Inertial Upper Stage rocket and several firings of its own on-board rocket motors after separating from the Inertial Upper Stage will place the observatory into its working orbit. Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope’s circular orbit that is relatively close to the Earth, the Chandra X-ray Observatory will be placed in a highly elliptical (oval-shaped) orbit. At its closest approach to Earth, the observatory will be at an altitude of about 6,200 miles. At its farthest, 87,000 miles, it will travel almost one-third of the way to the Moon. Due to this elliptical orbit, the observatory will circle the Earth every 64 hours, carrying it far outside the belts of radiation that surround our planet. This radiation, while harmless to life on Earth, can overwhelm the observatory’s sensitive instruments. The X-ray observatory will be outside this radiation long enough to take 55 hours of uninterrupted observations during each orbit. During periods of interference from Earth’s radiation belts, scientific observations will not be taken. The Chandra X-ray Observatory has three major elements. They are the spacecraft system, the telescope system and the science instruments.

The Spacecraft System

The spacecraft module contains computers, communication antennas and data recorders to transmit and receive information between the observatory and ground stations. The onboard computers and sensors, with ground-based control center assistance, command and control the vehicle and monitor its health during its expected five-year lifetime. The spacecraft module also provides rocket propulsion to move and aim the entire observatory, an aspect camera that tells the observatory its position relative to the stars, and a Sun sensor that protects it from excessive light. Electrical power is provided by solar arrays that also charge three nickel-hydrogen batteries that provide backup power.

The Telescope System

At the heart of the telescope system is the High-Resolution Mirror Assembly. Since high-energy X-rays would penetrate a normal mirror, special cylindrical mirrors were created. The two sets of four nested mirrors resemble tubes within tubes. Incoming X-rays will graze off the highly polished mirror surfaces and will be funneled to the instrument section for detection and study. The mirrors of the X-ray observatory are the largest of their kind and the smoothest ever created. If the surface of the state of Colorado were as relatively smooth, Pike’s Peak would be less than one inch tall. The largest of the eight mirrors is almost 4 feet in diameter and 3 feet long. Assembled, the mirror group weighs more than 1 ton.

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/fact3-1.html (2 of 5) [5/24/1999 9:51:14 AM] Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheet: July 14, 1998 The High-Resolution Mirror Assembly is contained in the cylindrical "telescope" portion of the observatory. The entire length of the telescope is covered with reflective multi-layer insulation that will assist heating elements inside the unit in keeping a constant internal temperature. By maintaining a precise temperature, the mirrors within the telescope will not be subjected to expansion and contraction – thus ensuring greater accuracy in observations. The assembled mirrors were tested at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Marshall’s world-class X-ray Calibration Facility verified the mirrors’ exceptional accuracy – comparable to the accuracy required to hit a hole-in-one from Los Angeles to San Diego. This achievement will allow the observatory to detect objects separated by one-half arc second. This is comparable to reading the letters of a stop sign 12 miles away. The Chandra X-ray Observatory represents a scientific leap in ability over previous X-ray observatories like NASA’s Einstein, which orbited the Earth from 1978 to 1981. With its combination of large mirror area, accurate alignment and efficient X-ray detectors, the Chandra X-ray Observatory has eight times greater resolution and is 20-to-50 times more sensitive than any previous X-ray telescope.

Science Instruments

Within the instrument section of the observatory, two instruments at the narrow end of the telescope cylinder will collect X-rays and study them in various ways. Each of the instruments can serve as an imager or spectrometer.

A High-Resolution Camera will record X-ray images, giving scientists an unequaled look at violent, high-temperature occurrences like the death of stars or colliding galaxies. The High-Resolution Camera is composed of two clusters of 69 million tiny lead-oxide glass tubes. The tubes are only one-twentieth of an inch long and just one-eighth the thickness of a human hair. When X-rays strike the tubes, particles called electrons are released. As the electrons are accelerated down the tubes by high voltage, they cause an avalanche of about 30 million more electrons. A grid of electrically charged wires at the end of the tube detects this flood of particles and allows the position of the original X-ray to be precisely determined. The High-Resolution Camera also will complement the Charge-Coupled Device Imaging Spectrometer, described below. The Chandra X-ray Observatory’s Imaging Spectrometer is also located at the narrow end of the observatory. This detector is capable of recording not only the position, but also the color (energy) of the X-rays. The imaging spectrometer is made up of 10 charge-coupled device arrays. These detectors are similar to those used in home video recorders and digital cameras but are designed to detect X-rays. Commands from the ground allow astronomers to select which of the various detectors to use. The imaging spectrometer can distinguish up to 50 different energies within the range the observatory operates. In order to gain even more energy information, two screen-like instruments, called diffraction gratings, can be inserted into the path of the X-rays between the telescope and the detectors. The gratings change the path of the X-ray depending on its color (energy) and the X-ray cameras record the color and position. One grating concentrates on the higher and medium energies and uses the imaging spectrometer as a detector – the other grating disperses low energies and is used in conjunction with the High Resolution Camera. By studying these X-ray rainbows, or spectra, and recognizing signatures of known elements, scientists can determine the composition of the X-ray producing objects, and learn how the X-rays are produced.

Observatory Operations

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations of the Chandra X-ray Observatory for NASA from Cambridge, Mass. The Smithsonian manages two electronically linked facilities – the Operations Control Center and the Science Center. The Operations Control Center is responsible for directing the observatory’s mission as it orbits Earth. A control center team will interact with the observatory three times a day – receiving science and housekeeping information from its recorders. The control center team also will send new instructions to the observatory as needed, as well as transmit scientific information from the X-ray observatory to the Science Center.

The Science Center is an important resource for scientists who wish to study X-ray emitting celestial objects like quasars and colliding galaxies. The Science Center will provide user support to researchers, including science data processing and a science http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/fact3-1.html (3 of 5) [5/24/1999 9:51:14 AM] Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheet: July 14, 1998 data archive. The Science Center will work with NASA and the scientific community to allow public access to the scientific results.

NASA and Partners

The Chandra X-ray Observatory program is managed by the Marshall Center for the Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. TRW Space and Electronics Group of Redondo Beach, Calif., is the prime contractor and has assembled and tested the observatory for NASA. Using glass purchased from Schott Glaswerke, Mainz, Germany, the telescope’s mirrors were built by Raytheon Optical Systems Inc., Danbury, Conn. The mirrors were coated by Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc., Santa Rosa, Calif., and assembled by Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y. The Chandra X-ray Observatory Charge-Coupled Device Imaging Spectrometer was developed by Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa., and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge. One diffraction grating was developed by MIT, the other by the Space Research Organization Netherlands, Utrecht, Netherlands, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute, Garching, Germany. The High Resolution Camera was built by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation of Boulder, Colo., developed the aspect camera and the Science Instrument Module. Chandra X-ray Observatory Technical Details Size 45.3 feet long x 64.0 feet wide (solar arrays deployed) Weight 10,560 pounds Life Minimum 5 years Orbit 6,200 x 86,900 miles, 64-hour period per orbit Two 3-panel, silicon solar arrays (2,350 watts). Three 40-amp-hour Power nickel-hydrogen batteries for power in eclipse Data recording Solid-state recorder; 1.8 gigabits (16.8 hours) of recording capability 4 sets of nested, grazing incidence paraboloid/hyperboloid mirror pairs, constructed of Zerodur material High-Resolution Mirror - Weight of assembly: 2,104 pounds Assembly - Focal length: 10 meters (about 33 feet) - Outer diameter: 1.2 meters (about 4 feet)

Charge-coupled Imaging Ten charge-coupled device arrays provide simultaneous imaging and Spectrometer spectroscopy High-Resolution Camera Micro-channel plates detect X-ray photons Transmission Gratings One high/medium- and one low-energy, gold grating

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Exploring The Invisible Universe: The Chandra X-ray Observatory

To the human eye, space appears serene and void. It is NASA’s newest space telescope, called the Chandra neither. X-ray Observatory, will allow scientists from around the world to obtain unprecedented X-ray images of these and To the “eye” of an X-ray telescope, the universe is totally other exotic environments to help understand the structure different—a violent, vibrant, and ever-changing place. and evolution of the universe. The observatory will not Temperatures can reach millions of degrees. Objects are only help to probe these mysteries, but also will serve as a accelerated by gravity to nearly the speed of light, and unique tool to study detailed physics in a laboratory that magnetic fields more than a trillion times stronger than the cannot be replicated here on Earth—the universe itself. Earth’s cause some stars to crack and tremble. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has every prospect of rewriting textbooks and helping technology advance in Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope’s circular orbit that is the coming decade. The Chandra X-ray Observatory will relatively close to the Earth, the Chandra X-ray provide unique and crucial information on the nature of Observatory will be placed in a highly elliptical objects ranging from comets in our solar system to quasars (oval-shaped) orbit. At its closest approach to Earth, the at the edge of the observable universe. The observatory observatory will be at an altitude of about 6,200 miles. At should provide long-sought answers to some major its farthest, 87,000 miles, it will travel almost one-third of scientific questions, such as: the way to the Moon. Due to this elliptical orbit, the observatory will circle the Earth every 64 hours, carrying • What and where is the “Dark Matter” in our universe? it far outside the belts of radiation that surround our The largest and most massive objects in the universe planet. This radiation, while harmless to life on Earth, can are galaxy clusters—enormous collections of overwhelm the observatory’s sensitive instruments. The galaxies, some like our own. These galaxies are X-ray observatory will be outside this radiation long bound together into a cluster by gravity. Much of their enough to take 55 hours of uninterrupted observations mass is in the form of an incredibly hot, X-ray during each orbit. During periods of interference from emitting gas that fills the entire space between the Earth’s radiation belts, scientific observations will not be galaxies. Yet neither the mass of the galaxies, nor the taken. mass of the hot X-ray gas, is enough to provide the gravity that we know holds the cluster together. X-ray The Chandra X-ray Observatory has three major elements. observations with the Chandra X-ray Observatory will They are the spacecraft system, the telescope system and map the location of the dark matter and help us to the science instruments. identify it.

• What is the powerhouse driving the explosive activity The Spacecraft System in many distant galaxies? The centers of many distant The spacecraft module contains computers, galaxies are incredible sources of energy and communication antennas and data recorders to transmit radiation—especially X-rays. Scientists theorize that and receive information between the observatory and massive black holes are at the center of these active ground stations. The onboard computers and sensors, with galaxies, gobbling up any material—even a whole ground-based control center assistance, command and star—that passes too close. Detailed studies with the Chandra X-ray Observatory can probe the faintest of control the vehicle and monitor its health during its these active galaxies, and study not only how their expected five-year lifetime. energy output changes with time, but also how these objects produce their intense energy emissions in the The spacecraft module also provides rocket propulsion to first place. move and aim the entire observatory, an aspect camera that tells the observatory its position relative to the stars, and a Since X-rays are absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere, Sun sensor that protects it from excessive light. Electrical space-based observatories are necessary to study these power is provided by solar arrays that also charge three phenomena. To meet this scientific challenge, the Chandra nickel-hydrogen batteries that provide backup power. X-ray Observatory, NASA’s most powerful X-ray telescope, is scheduled for launch in 1999. The Telescope System Complementing two other space observatories now orbiting Earth—the Hubble Space Telescope and the At the heart of the telescope system is the High-Resolution Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory—this observatory Mirror Assembly. Since high-energy X-rays would will study X-rays rather than visible light or gamma rays. penetrate a normal mirror, special cylindrical mirrors were By capturing images created by these invisible rays, the created. The two sets of four nested mirrors resemble tubes observatory will allow scientists to analyze some of the within tubes. Incoming X-rays will graze off the highly greatest mysteries of the universe. polished mirror surfaces and will be funneled to the instrument section for detection and study. Named in honor of the late Indian-American Nobel Laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, the observatory The mirrors of the X-ray observatory are the largest of was formerly known as the Advance X-ray Astrophysics their kind and the smoothest ever created. If the surface of Facility. The Chandra X-ray Observatory will be carried the state of Colorado were as relatively smooth, Pike’s into low-Earth orbit by the Space Shuttle Columbia. The Peak would be less than 1 inch tall. The largest of the eight observatory will be deployed from the Shuttle’s cargo bay mirrors is almost 4 feet in diameter and 3 feet long. at 155 miles above the Earth. Two firings of an attached Assembled, the mirror group weighs more than 1 ton. Inertial Upper Stage rocket, and several firings of its own on board rocket motors after separating from the Inertial The High-Resolution Mirror Assembly is contained in the Upper Stage, will place the observatory into its working cylindrical “telescope” portion of the observatory. The orbit. entire length of the telescope is covered with reflective multi-layer insulation that will assist heating elements 50 different energies within the range the observatory inside the unit in keeping a constant internal temperature. operates. In order to gain even more energy information, By maintaining a precise temperature, the mirrors within two screen-like instruments, called diffraction gratings, the telescope will not be subjected to expansion and can be inserted into the path of the X-rays between the contraction—thus ensuring greater accuracy in telescope and the detectors. The gratings change the path observations. The assembled mirrors were tested at of the X-ray depending on its color (energy), and the X-ray NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. cameras record the color and position. One grating Marshall’s world-class X-ray Calibration Facility verified concentrates on the higher and medium energies and uses the mirrors’ exceptional accuracy—comparable to the the imaging spectrometer as a detector—the other grating accuracy required to hit a hole-in-one from Los Angeles to disperses low energies and is used in conjunction with the San Diego. This achievement will allow the observatory to High-Resolution Camera. detect objects separated by one-half arc second. This is comparable to reading the letters of a stop sign 12 miles By studying these X-ray rainbows, or spectra, and away. recognizing signatures of known elements, scientists can determine the composition of the X-ray producing objects, The Chandra X-ray Observatory represents a scientific and learn how the X-rays are produced. leap in ability over previous X-ray observatories like NASA’s Einstein, which orbited the Earth from 1978 to Observatory Operations 1981. With its combination of large mirror area, accurate alignment and efficient X-ray detectors, the Chandra X-ray The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Observatory has eight times greater resolution and is science and flight operations of the Chandra X-ray 20-to-50 times more sensitive than any previous X-ray Observatory for NASA from Cambridge, Mass. The telescope. Smithsonian manages two electronically linked facilities— the Operations Control Center and the Science Center.

Science Instruments The Operations Control Center is responsible for directing Within the instrument section of the observatory, two the observatory’s mission as it orbits Earth. A control instruments at the narrow end of the telescope cylinder center team will interact with the observatory three times a will collect X-rays and study them in various ways. Each day—receiving science and housekeeping information of the instruments can serve as an imager or spectrometer. from its recorders. The control center team also will send new instructions to the observatory as needed, as well as A High-Resolution Camera will record X-ray images, transmit scientific information from the X-ray observatory giving scientists an unequaled look at violent, high- to the Science Center. temperature occurrences like the death of stars or colliding galaxies. The High-Resolution Camera is composed of two The Science Center is an important resource for scientists clusters of 69 million tiny lead-oxide glass tubes. The who wish to study X-ray emitting celestial objects like tubes are only one-twentieth of an inch long and just one- quasars and colliding galaxies. The Science Center will eighth the thickness of a human hair. When X-rays strike provide user support to researchers, including science data the tubes, particles called electrons are released. As the processing and a science data archive. The Science Center electrons are accelerated down the tubes by high voltage, will work with NASA and the scientific community to they cause an avalanche of about 30 million more allow public access to the scientific results. electrons. A grid of electrically charged wires at the end of the tube detects this flood of particles and allows the NASA and Partners position of the original X-ray to be precisely determined. The High-Resolution Camera also will complement the The Chandra X-ray Observatory program is managed by Charge-Coupled Device Imaging Spectrometer, described the Marshall Center for the Office of Space Science, below. NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. TRW Space and Electronics Group of Redondo Beach, Calif., is the prime The Chandra X-ray Observatory’s Imaging Spectrometer contractor and has assembled and tested the observatory is also located at the narrow end of the observatory. This for NASA. Using glass purchased from Schott Glaswerke, detector is capable of recording not only the position, but Mainz, Germany, the telescope’s mirrors were built by also the color (energy) of the X-rays. The imaging Raytheon Optical Systems Inc., Danbury, Conn. The spectrometer is made up of 10 charge-coupled device mirrors were coated by Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc., arrays. These detectors are similar to those used in home Santa Rosa, Calif., and assembled by Eastman Kodak Co., video recorders and digital cameras but are designed to Rochester, N.Y. detect X-rays. Commands from the ground allow astronomers to select which of the various detectors to use. The Chandra X-ray Observatory Charge-Coupled Device The imaging spectrometer can distinguish up to Imaging Spectrometer was developed by Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa., and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge. One diffraction grating was developed by MIT, the other Links to the Chandra X-ray by the Space Research Organization Netherlands, Utrecht, Observatory can be found at the Netherlands, in collaboration with the Max Planck following web site: Institute, Garching, Germany. The High-Resolution Camera was built by the Smithsonian Astrophysical http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/newsroom/ Observatory. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation of Boulder, Colo., developed the aspect camera and the chandra/chandra.html Science Instrument Module.

Chandra X-ray Observatory Technical Details

Size 45.3 feet long x 64.0 feet wide (solar arrays deployed) Weight 10,560 pounds Life Minimum 5 years Orbit 6,200 x 86,900 miles, 64-hour period per orbit Power Two 3-panel, silicon solar arrays (2,350 watts) Three 40-amp-hour nickel-hydrogen batteries for power in eclipse Data recording Solid-state recorder; 1.8 gigabits (16.8 hours) of recording capability

High-Resolution Four sets of nested, grazing incidence paraboloid/hyperboloid Mirror Assemby mirror pairs, constructed of Zerodur material

Weight of assembly: 2,104 pounds Focal length: 10 meters (about 33 feet) Outer diameter: 1.2 meters (about 4 feet)

Charge-coupled Ten charge-coupled device arrays provide simultaneous imaging Imaging Spectrometer and spectroscopy

High-Resolution Micro-channel plates detect X-ray photons Camera

Transmission Gratings One high/medium- and one low-energy, gold grating Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheet November, 1998

Chandra X-ray Observatory Science Fact Sheet

(March 1999)

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 03/16/99

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/fact4.html [5/24/1999 9:52:33 AM] Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheet March, 1999 CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY CENTER Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics March 1999 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 SCIENCE FACT SHEET For more information, contact: Wallace Tucker 617.496.7998

Chandra X-ray Observatory Observing the High Energy Universe from hundreds of other stars, especially young stars which flare much more often than the sun, astrophysicists hope to get a X-rays are a high energy, invisible form of light. They are better idea of what conditions were like on Earth when the sun produced in the cosmos when gas is heated to millions of was young. degrees by violent and extreme conditions. Much of the matter in the universe is so hot that it can be observed only with X-ray What can X-ray spectra reveal about the origin of heavy telescopes. Flaring stars, exploding stars, black holes, and vast elements that are necessary for life? clouds of hot gas in galaxy clusters are among the fascinating objects that Chandra X-ray Observatory is designed to study. Heavy elements such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and iron are made deep in the interior of massive stars. They are eventually Images from Chandra X-ray Observatory will show fifty times spread throughout space when a massive star undergoes a more detail than any previous X-ray telescope. It is a catastrophic explosion called a supernova. revolutionary telescope that combines the ability to make sharp images while it measures precisely the energies of X-rays coming from cosmic sources.

Stars, Supernovae & Life

How will Chandra images of young stars help scientists better understand the evolution of life on Earth?

On occasion, a spectacular eruption occurs in the upper atmosphere of the sun. These eruptions, called solar flares, shower Earth's atmosphere with X-rays and high energy particles. The long term effects of solar flares on the climate and on life on Earth is not well understood. By observing X-rays ROSAT X-ray image of Cassiopeia A, a remnant of a star that exploded about 300 years ago. (NASA)

In our galaxy a supernova occurs about every fifty years. The shell of matter thrown off by the supernova creates a bubble of multimillion degree gas called a supernova remnant. This hot gas will expand and produce X-radiation for thousands of years. Chandra X-ray Observatory images will trace the dynamics of the expanding remnant. When heavy elements present in the hot gas are heated to high temperatures, they produce X-rays of specific energies. Chandra X-ray Observatory detectors will precisely measure the energies of these X-rays and tell how much of each element is present.

ROSAT X-ray image of NGC 2516, a cluster of young stars. (NASA) Next: Page 2

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/fact4-1.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:52:37 AM] Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheet March, 1999 Black Holes & Quasars Clusters of Galaxies & Dark Matter

How can an X-ray telescope provide new information about the If much of the matter in the universe is so hot that it can be warping of space around black holes? observed only with an X-ray telescope, where can large quantities of multimillion degree gas be found? Some of the most intense X-ray sources in the universe are caused by super-hot gas that is swirling toward a black hole. As the tremendous gravity of a black hole pulls gas and dust particles toward it, the particles speed up and form a rapidly rotating flattened disk. Friction caused by collisions between the particles heats them to extreme temperatures. Just before they pass beyond the event horizon of the black hole, the particles produce X-rays as their temperatures rise to many millions of degrees. By precisely determining the energy of individual X-rays, Chandra X-ray Observatory can measure the motion of particles near black holes. This information will allow scientists The UK Schmidt optical image (left) of the Coma cluster shows to test theories about the gravity fields around black holes. light from thousands of galaxies, whereas the Rosat X-ray image (right) reveals a massive cloud of 80 million degree gas. Can X-ray observations of quasars detect the spectral signatures of supermassive black holes? More than half of all galaxies in the universe are members of Astrophysicists have proposed that supermassive black holes groups of galaxies or larger collections of galaxies, called may explain the mysterious and powerful objects called quasars. clusters. X-ray observations have shown that most clusters of These objects radiate as much energy per second as a thousand galaxies are filled with vast clouds of multimillion degree gas. normal galaxies from a region having a diameter less than a The mass of this gas is greater than all the stars in all the galaxies millionth of the size of one galaxy. Because the matter closest to in a cluster of a thousand galaxies. the event horizon of a black hole radiates most of its energy as X-rays and gamma rays, Chandra X-ray Observatory will present Can Chandra shed some light on the dark matter mystery? an unequaled view into the inner workings of these violent cosmic whirlpools. The X-ray producing hot gas found in a typical cluster of galaxies also presents astronomers with a grand puzzle. Over time this extremely hot gas should escape the cluster since the galaxies and gas do not provide enough gravity to hold it in. Yet in clusters of all ages the gas remains. Scientists have concluded that some unobserved form of matter, called dark matter, is providing the extra gravity needed to hold the hot gas in the cluster. An enormous amount of dark matter is needed— about three to ten times as much matter as that observed in the gas and galaxies.

This means that most of the matter in the universe may be dark matter! The dark matter could be collapsed stars, planets or black holes. Or strange subatomic particles that produce no light, and can only be detected through their gravity. Detailed measurements of the size and temperature of the hot gas clouds Artist's rendition of the violent whirlpool of hot gas and high in galaxy clusters by Chandra X-ray Observatory could help energy jets near a supermassive black hole. (SAO) solve the dark matter mystery.

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The Chandra X-ray Observatory Spacecraft (TRW, Inc.)

How will observations of hot gas in clusters help to determine which theories of the origin and evolution of the universe are correct? NASA and Partners The giant galaxy clusters have been assembled through the collision and merger of smaller groups and clusters over billions The Chandra X-ray Observatory program is managed by the of years. The speed at which this process occurs differs greatly, Marshall Space Flight Center for the Office of Space Science, depending on the theory that is adopted. Observations of the NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. TRW Space and numbers and sizes of clusters at great distances, corresponding to Electronics Group of Redondo Beach, Calif., is the prime early times in the evolution of the universe, should rule out some contractor and has assembled and tested the observatory for of the competing theories for the origin and evolution of the NASA. Using glass purchased from Schott Glaswerke, Mainz, universe. Germany, the telescope's mirrors were built by Raytheon Optical Systems Inc., Danbury, Conn. The mirrors were coated by Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc., Santa Rosa, Calif., and Operations assembled by Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y. The CCD Imaging Spectrometer was developed by Pennsylvania The Chandra X-ray Observatory Center (CXC) is operated by the State University, University Park, Pa., and the Massachusetts Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge. The High Resolution The CXC, with a staff of over one hundred fifty people, will Camera was built by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. control science and flight operations of the Chandra X-ray One diffraction grating was developed by MIT, the other by the Observatory for NASA at two facilities. The operation and Space Research Organization Netherlands, Utrecht, Netherlands, control facility in Kendall Square is electronically linked to the in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute, Garching, science support facility at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Germany. The Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation of Astrophysics. Boulder, Colo., developed the aspect camera and the Science Instrument Module. The CXC operations control group is responsible for directing the observatory's mission as it orbits Earth. The staff will interact with the observatory three times a day to acquire science and housekeeping information from its recorders. They will also will send new instructions to the observatory as needed, and relay scientific information from the X-ray observatory to the CXC science support group.

The CXC science support group is an important resource for scientists and the public. They provide user support to researchers, including science data processing and a science data archive, and they work with NASA and the scientific community to inform the public of discoveries made by scientists using the observatory. Portrayal of Space Shuttle Columbia deploying Chandra (TRW, Inc.)

Top Ten Amazing Facts About Chandra

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Chandra will fly 200 times higher than Hubble - more than 1/3 of the way to the moon!

Chandra will be observing X-rays from clouds of gas so vast that it takes light five million years to go from one side to the other!

During maneuvers from one target to the next, Chandra slews more slowly than the minute hand on a clock.

At 45 feet long, Chandra is the largest satellite the shuttle has ever launched!

If Colorado were as smooth as Chandra's mirrors, Pikes Peak would be less than one inch tall!

Chandra's resolving power is equivalent to the ability to read the headline of a newspaper at the distance of half a mile.

The electrical power required to operate the Chandra spacecraft and instruments is 2 kilowatts, about the same power as a hair dryer.

The light from some of the quasars observed by Chandra will have been traveling through space for ten billion years.

STS-93, the space mission that will deploy Chandra, is the first NASA shuttle mission commanded by a woman.

Chandra can observe x-rays from particles up to the last second before they fall into a black hole!!!

For more information on the Top Ten Facts, see our Behind the Facts section.

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Revised: 04/19/99

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The Facts Behind the Top Ten Facts

Chandra will fly 200 times higher than Hubble - more than 1/3 of the way to the moon!

#10 EXPLANATION For the planned operational orbit of Chandra, the closest approach to earth and the most distant point from earth will be as follows: Altitude at Perigee (closest approach) = 10,000 km = 6,214 (statute) mile = 5,400 nautical mile Altitude at Apogee (most distant point from earth) = 140,000 km = 86,992 (statute) mile = 75,594 nautical mile For reference, Mean radius of Earth = 6,371 km = 3,959 (statute) mile = 3,440 nautical mile

Chandra will be observing X-rays from clouds of gas so vast that it takes light five million years to go from one side to the other!

#9 EXPLANATION If we assume conservatively that a cluster extends out to a radius of 1 Mpc, then it has a diameter of 2 Mpc, or 6 million light years.

During maneuvers from one target to the next, Chandra slews more slowly than the minute hand on a clock.

#8 EXPLANATION According the AXAF Observatory Guide, it takes Chandra 31 minutes to slew 90 degrees. It takes the minute hand on a clock 15 minutes to slew 90 degrees.

At 45 feet long, Chandra is the largest satellite the shuttle has ever launched.

#7 EXPLANATION For comparison, the Hubble Space Telescope was just over 43 feet long.

If Colorado were as smooth as Chandra's mirrors, Pikes Peak would be less than one inch tall!

#6 EXPLANATION Numbers: Assume optics size = 84 cm Assume rms low frequency figure errors are < 100A = 1E-6 cm Assume size of Colorado= 600 km = 6 E7 cm Then the ratio of the (rms errors)/(optics size) < 1.2 E-8 Assuming that there will be one 3 sigma peak in 1000 trials (the approx. number of measurements of the figure), then the ratio is < 3.6E-8. Then the largest mountain (which is not Pikes Peak, but is not much taller than Pikes Peak) in Colorado would be < 2.2 cm < 1 inch.

Chandra's resolving power is equivalent to the ability to read the headline of a newspaper at the distance of half a mile.

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#5 EXPLANATION Assume that a headline is 1 cm or more high. Assume also that a letter would fit in a square 5 pixels x 5 pixels, the pixel size is 0.2 cm. This pixel would subtend an angle = 0.5 arc sec at a distance D = 0.2/2.5E-6 = 8E4 cm = 800 m = ½ mile.

The electrical power required to operate the Chandra spacecraft and instruments is 2 kilowatts, about the same power as a hair dryer.

#4 EXPLANATION A standard hair dryer uses 1600-1800 watts (slightly less than 2 kilowatts) on its high setting.

The light from some of the quasars observed by Chandra will have been traveling through space for ten billion years.

#3 EXPLANATION If we take a Hubble constant of 60 km/sec-Mpc, then the Hubble time is approx 16 billion years, so for a quasar at z>3, the look back time, depending on Omega, is greater than 10 billion years.

STS-93, the space mission that will deploy Chandra, is the first NASA shuttle mission commanded by a woman.

#2 EXPLANATION Commander Eileen Collins will be the first woman to command a NASA shuttle mission.

Chandra can observe x-rays from particles up to the last second before they fall into a black hole!!!

#1 EXPLANATION The last stable orbit for a Schwarzchild metric is 6GM/c^2 ~ 10^7 cm for a 10 solar mass black hole. The time to fall in from this point on is ~ 0.001-.01 seconds, depending

Return to Top Ten Facts

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/about/behind_facts.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:52:50 AM] CHANDRA March, 1999 X-RAY OBSERVATORY CENTER SCIENCE FACT SHEET Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics For more information, contact: 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 Wallace Tucker 617.496.7998

C h a n d r a X - r a y O b s e r v a t o r y

Observing the High Energy Universe from hundreds of other stars, especially young stars which flare much more often than the sun, X-rays are a high energy, invisible form of light. astrophysicists hope to get a better idea of what They are produced in the cosmos when gas is conditions were like on Earth when the sun was heated to millions of degrees by violent and young. extreme conditions. Much of the matter in the universe is so hot that it can be observed only with What can X-ray spectra reveal about the origin of X-ray telescopes. Flaring stars, exploding stars, heavy elements that are necessary for life? black holes, and vast clouds of hot gas in galaxy clusters are among the fascinating objects that the Heavy elements such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen Chandra X-ray Observatory is designed to study. and iron are made deep in the interior of massive stars. They are eventually spread throughout space Images from Chandra will show fifty times more when a massive star undergoes a catastrophic detail than any previous X-ray telescope. It is a explosion called a supernova. revolutionary telescope that combines the ability to make sharp images while it measures precisely the energies of X-rays coming from cosmic sources.

Stars, Supernovae & Life

How will Chandra images of young stars help scientists better understand the evolution of life on Earth?

Rosat X-ray image of Cassiopeia A, a remnant of a star that exploded about 300 years ago. (NASA)

In our galaxy a supernova occurs about every fifty years. The shell of matter thrown off by the supernova creates a bubble of multimillion degree gas called a supernova remnant. This hot gas will expand and produce X-radiation for thousands of years. Chandra X-ray Observatory images will trace the dynamics of the expanding remnant. When heavy elements present in the hot gas are heated to high temperatures, they produce X-rays of specific energies. Chandra detectors will precisely measure the energies of these X-rays and tell how much of Rosat X-ray image of NGC 2516, a cluster each element is present. of young stars. (NASA) Black Holes & Quasars Clusters of Galaxies & Dark Matter

How can an X-ray telescope provide new If much of the matter in the universe is so hot that it information about the warping of space around can be observed only with an X-ray telescope, where black holes? can large quantities of multimillion degree gas be found? Some of the most intense X-ray sources in the universe are caused by super-hot gas that is swirling toward a black hole. As the tremendous gravity of a black hole pulls gas and dust particles toward it, the particles speed up and form a rapidly rotating flattened disk. Friction caused by collisions between the particles heats them to extreme temperatures. Just before they pass beyond the event horizon of the black hole, the particles produce X-rays as their temperatures rise to many millions of degrees. By precisely determining the energy of individual X-rays, the Chandra X-ray Observatory can measure the The UK Schmidt optical image (left ) of the Coma cluster motion of particles near black holes. This shows light from thousands of galaxies, whereas the Rosat information will allow scientists to test theories X-ray image (right) reveals a massive cloud of 80 million about the gravity fields around black holes. degree gas.

Can X-ray observations of quasars detect the More than half of all galaxies in the universe are spectral signatures of supermassive black holes? members of groups of galaxies or larger collections of galaxies, called clusters. X-ray observations have Astrophysicists have proposed that supermassive shown that most clusters of galaxies are filled with black holes may explain the mysterious and vast clouds of multimillion degree gas. The mass of powerful objects called quasars. These objects this gas is greater than all the stars in all the galaxies radiate as much energy per second as a thousand in a cluster of a thousand galaxies. normal galaxies from a region having a diameter less than a millionth of the size of one galaxy. Can Chandra shed some light on the dark matter Because the matter closest to the event horizon of mystery? a black hole radiates most of its energy as X-rays and gamma rays, the Chandra X-ray Observatory The X-ray producing hot gas found in a typical will present an unequaled view into the inner cluster of galaxies also presents astronomers with a workings of these violent cosmic whirlpools. grand puzzle. Over time this extremely hot gas should escape the cluster since the galaxies and gas do not provide enough gravity to hold it in. Yet in clusters of all ages the gas remains. Scientists have concluded that some unobserved form of matter, called dark matter, is providing the extra gravity needed to hold the hot gas in the cluster. An enormous amount of dark matter is needed — about three to ten times as much matter as that observed in the gas and galaxies.

This means that most of the matter in the universe may be dark matter! The dark matter could be collapsed stars, planets or black holes. Or strange subatomic particles that produce no light, and can only be detected through their gravity. Detailed measurements of the size and temperature of the hot Artist's rendition of the violent whirlpool of hot gas and gas clouds in galaxy clusters by Chandra could help high energy jets near a supermassive black hole. (SAO) solve the dark matter mystery. The Chandra X-ray Observatory Spacecraft (TRW, Inc.)

How will observations of hot gas in clusters help to NASA and Partners determine which theories of the origin and evolution of the universe are correct? The Chandra X-ray Observatory program is managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center for The giant galaxy clusters have been assembled the Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters, through the collision and merger of smaller groups Washington, D.C. TRW Space and Electronics and clusters over billions of years. The speed at Group of Redondo Beach, Calif., is the prime which this process occurs differs greatly, depending contractor and has assembled and tested the on the theory that is adopted. Observations of the observatory for NASA. Using glass purchased from numbers and sizes of clusters at great distances, Schott Glaswerke, Mainz, Germany, the telescope's corresponding to early times in the evolution of the mirrors were built by Raytheon Optical Systems Inc., universe, should rule out some of the competing Danbury, Conn. The mirrors were coated by Optical theories for the origin and evolution of the universe. Coating Laboratory, Inc., Santa Rosa, Calif., and assembled by Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y. Operations The CCD Imaging Spectrometer was developed by The Chandra X-ray Observatory Center (CXC) is Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa., operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. The CXC, with a (MIT), Cambridge. The High Resolution Camera staff of over one hundred fifty people will control was built by the Smithsonian Astrophysical science and flight operations of Chandra for NASA Observatory. One diffraction grating was developed at two facilities. The operation and control facility by MIT, the other by the Space Research in Kendall Square is electronically linked to the Organization Netherlands, Utrecht, Netherlands, in science support facility at the Harvard-Smithsonian collaboration with the Max Planck Institute, Center for Astrophysics. Garching, Germany. The Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation of Boulder, Colo., The CXC operations control group is responsible for developed the aspect camera and the Science directing the observatory's mission as it orbits Earth. Instrument Module. The staff will interact with the observatory three times a day to acquire science and housekeeping information from its recorders. They will also will send new instructions to the observatory as needed, and relay scientific information from the X-ray observatory to the CXC science support group.

The CXC science support group is an important resource for scientists and the public. They provide user support to researchers, including science data processing and a science data archive, and they work with NASA and the scientific community to inform the public of discoveries made by scientists Portrayal of Shuttle Columbia using the observatory. deploying Chandra. (TRW, Inc.) Top Ten Amazing Facts About Chandra

# 1 Chandra will fly 200 times higher than Hubble - more than 1/3 of the way to the moon!

# 2 Chandra will be observing X-rays from clouds of gas so vast that it takes light five million years to go from one side to the other!

# 3 During maneuvers from one target to the next, Chandra slews more slowly than the minute hand on a clock.

# 4 At 45 feet long, Chandra is the largest satellite the shuttle has ever launched.

# 5 If Colorado were as smooth as Chandra’s mirrors, Pikes Peak would be less than one inch tall!

# 6 Chandra's resolving power is equivalent to the ability to read the headline of a newspaper at the distance of half a mile.

# 7 The electrical power required to operate the Chandra spacecraft and instruments is 2 kilowatts, about the same power as a hair dryer.

# 8 The light from some of the quasars observed by Chandra will have been traveling through space for ten billion years.

# 9 STS-93, the space mission that will deploy Chandra, is the first NASA shuttle mission commanded by a woman.

# 10 Chandra can observe x-rays from particles up to the last second before they fall into a black hole!!!

STS-93 Mission Patch (NASA)

Visit us on the web at http://chandra.harvard.edu Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheet November, 1998

Chandra X-ray Observatory Science Fact Sheet

Images Only

ROSAT X-ray image of NGC 2516, a cluster of young stars. (NASA)

ROSAT X-ray image of Cassiopeia A, a remnant of a star that exploded about 300 years ago. (NASA)

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Artist's rendition of the violent whirlpool of hot gas and high energy jets near a supermassive black hole. (SAO)

Comparison of UK Schmidt optical image (left) and ROSAT X-ray image (right) of the Coma cluster of galaxies. The x-ray shows a cloud of hot gas with a temperature of 90 million degrees Celcius.

The Chandra X-ray Observatory Spacecraft (TRW, Inc.)

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Portrayal of Space Shuttle Columbia deploying Chandra (TRW, Inc.)

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Fact Sheet: February, 1999 The Inertial Upper Stage: Space Workhorse To Boost Chandra X-ray Observatory

The Inertial Upper Stage is a two-stage, solid rocket used to place spacecraft into a high-Earth orbit or boost them away from the Earth on interplanetary missions. The Inertial Upper Stage is launched from Earth aboard either the NASA Space Shuttle or with a one-use launch vehicle, such as the Air Force's Titan rocket. Once in space, the Inertial Upper Stage is deployed from the Shuttle or Titan and ignites to propel its attached spacecraft to the proper point in space. In 1999, the Inertial Upper Stage will help propel the newest of NASA's Great Observatories - the Chandra X-ray Observatory - from low Earth orbit into an elliptical orbit reaching one-third of the way to the Moon. The upper stage and the attached Chandra X-ray Observatory will be deployed from the Space Shuttle Columbia on its sixth or seventh orbit after launch. The Inertial Upper Stage then will fire its first stage solid rocket motor for about two minutes, then coast through space for about two minutes more. The first stage will then separate, and the second stage will fire for another minute-and-a-half. About one hour later, the Chandra observatory's solar panels will be deployed. Then, having done its job, the remains of the Inertial Upper Stage will separate from the Chandra observatory and use small thruster motors to maneuver away from Chandra. This will clear the way for Chandra's own propulsion system to boost it the rest of the way to its working orbit.

Background

Since its first use by NASA in 1983, the Inertial Upper Stage has supported a variety of important missions. The Inertial Upper Stage has boosted all of NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites from low-Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit. The Inertial Upper Stage also has helped send the Galileo spacecraft on a journey to explore Jupiter, the Magellan spacecraft to study and map Venus, and the Ulysses spacecraft toward a polar orbit of the Sun. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the NASA Inertial Upper Stage Program. The Inertial Upper Stage, originally called the Interim Upper Stage, was designed as a temporary reusable space tug. The word "Inertial" - signifying the guidance technology - replaced "Interim" when it was determined that the Interim

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/fact6.html (1 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:52:59 AM] Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheet: February, 1999 Upper Stage would be needed through the 1990s. The Inertial Upper Stage was developed and built by the Boeing Aerospace Co., at Seattle, Wash., under contract to the Air Force Materiel Command's Space and Missile Systems Center. The Space and Missile Systems Center is the executive agent for all Department of Defense activities pertaining to the Space Shuttle system and, for all NASA missions prior to Chandra, provided the Inertial Upper Stage for Space Shuttle use. The Inertial Upper Stage for the Chandra mission has been procured and provided by the Marshall Space Flight Center. Marshall is working cooperatively with the United States Air Force 3rd Space Launch Squadron for prelaunch integration and launch support for the Chandra mission and with the United States Air Force 5th Space Operations Squadron for orbital operations support for the Chandra mission. NASA's most recent use of the Inertial Upper Stage was on the STS-70 mission of the Space Shuttle in July 1995. The Inertial Upper Stage successfully transported Tracking Data Relay Satellite "G" to geosynchronous orbit, 22,300 miles from Earth.

Specifications

The Inertial Upper Stage is a two stage, inertially guided, three axis stabilized, solid rocket vehicle. It is approximately 17 feet long and 9.25 feet in diameter, with an overall weight of approximately 32,500 pounds. The Inertial Upper Stage first stage is comprised of a solid rocket motor and an interstage. The first stage solid rocket motor normally contains a maximum 21,580 pounds of propellant and generates an average of 44,000 pounds of thrust. The large first stage motor when first flown, with the capability to burn as long as 150 seconds, was the longest burning solid rocket motor ever developed for space application. For the Chandra mission, the first stage solid rocket motor propellant weight will be only 19,621 pounds due to weight constraints for the Shuttle, but by adjusting the exhaust nozzle on the motor the average thrust will be increased to 46,198 pounds and the burn time will be 125 seconds. The second stage consists of an equipment support section and a solid rocket motor. The second stage solid rocket motor has a normal maximum load of 6,000 pounds of propellant generating an average thrust of about 18,200 pounds. The Chandra mission will carry an additional 16 pounds of propellant at a reduced average thrust of 16,350 pounds. The equipment support section houses the avionics systems of the Inertial Upper Stage. These systems provide guidance, navigation, control, telemetry, command and data management, reaction control and electrical power. All vital components of the avionics system, along with thrust vector actuators, reaction control thrusters, motor igniter and pyrotechnic stage separation equipment have backup systems to provide reliability of better than 98 percent. Once deployed from the Shuttle, the Inertial Upper Stage's computers will send commands to the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Until spacecraft separation, these commands will assist Chandra in controlling power, safety systems, recorders, propulsion and heaters. The Inertial Upper Stage uses airborne support equipment installed in the Shuttle to operate and deploy into space. The Airborne Support Equipment

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/fact6.html (2 of 3) [5/24/1999 9:52:59 AM] Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheet: February, 1999 consists of the mechanical, avionics and structural equipment located in the orbiter. The structural and mechanical equipment attaches the Inertial Upper Stage and the payload to the orbiter payload bay and provides the mechanisms to elevate the Inertial Upper Stage and the payload and deploy it from the Shuttle. The Airborne Support Equipment avionics provides command and information transfer between the Upper Stage and the Shuttle during payload checkout. FS-1999-02-08-MSFC February 1999

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NASA'S CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY (CXO) Overall Specifications Spacecraft Specifications Size: 45.3 ft x 64.0 ft Power: two 3-panel silicon solar arrays (2350W) (solar arrays deployed) three 40 amp-hour nickel hydrogen batteries Weight: 10,560 pounds Antennas: two low-gain, conical log spiral antennas Orbit: 6,200 x 86,000 miles Frequencies: transmit 2250 MHz, receive 2071.8 MHz 28.5 deg. inclination Command Link: 2 kilobits per second (kbps) Ascending node: 200 degrees Data Recording: solid state recorder; 1.8 gigabits Argument of perigee 270 degrees (16.8 hours) recording capability Life: minimum 5 years Downlink Operations: downloaded typically every 8 hours Contigency Mode: 23kbps Safing: autonomous operation

Telescope System Science Instruments High Resolution 4 sets of nested, grazed AXAF Charged Ten CCD chips in 2 arrays provide imaging Mirror Assembly: incidence mirror pairs Couple Imaging and spectroscopy; over an energy range 0.2 Length: each 83.3 cm long Spectrometer (ACIS): - 10keV; -15 -2 -1 5 Weight: 2104 pounds sensitivity: 4x10 ergs-cm sec in 10 s Focal Length: 10 meters High Resolution Uses large field-of-view mircro-channel Outer Diameter 1.2 meters Camera (HRC): plates to make X-ray images: ang. Field of View: 1.0 degree diameter resolution < 0.5 arc-sec over field-of-view Ang. Resolution: 0.5 arc sec 31x31 arc0min; time resolution: 16 6 reaction wheel control micro-sec Altitude Control: 2 inertial reference units sensitivity: 4x10-15 ergs-cm-2 sec -1 in 10 5 Aspect Camera: 1.40deg x 1.40deg field of view s 0.25 arc-sec (RMS) radius over 95% High Energy To be inserted into focused X-ray beam; Pointing Stability: of all 10 second periods Transmission provides spectral resolution of 60-1000 Grating (HETG): over energy range 0.4 - 10 keV Pointing Accuracy: 30 arc-sec 99% of viewing time Low Energy To be inserted into focused X-ray beam; Mirrors have an effective area of Transmission provides spectral resolution of 40-2000 Remarks: 400 sq. cm. @1 keV; Grating (LETG): over the energy range 0.09 - 3 keV 330 A iridium coating The AXAF program is managed by the Marshall Center for the Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters. TRW is the prime contractor and has assembled and tested the observatory for NASA.

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/schematic-full.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:53:04 AM] Chandra Press Room - Schematic NASA'S CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY (CXO) Overall Specifications Spacecraft Specifications Size: 45.3 ft x 64.0 ft Power: two 3-panel silicon solar arrays (2350W) (solar arrays deployed) three 40 amp-hour nickel hydrogen batteries Weight: 10,560 pounds Antennas: two low-gain, conical log spiral antennas Orbit: 6,200 x 86,000 miles Frequencies: transmit 2250 MHz, receive 2071.8 MHz 28.5 deg. inclination Command Link: 2 kilobits per second (kbps) Ascending node: 200 degrees Data Recording: solid state recorder; 1.8 gigabits Argument of perigee 270 degrees (16.8 hours) recording capability Life: minimum 5 years Downlink Operations: downloaded typically every 8 hours Contigency Mode: 23kbps Safing: autonomous operation

Telescope System Science Instruments High Resolution 4 sets of nested, grazed AXAF Charged Ten CCD chips in 2 arrays provide imaging and Mirror Assembly: incidence mirror pairs Couple Imaging spectroscopy; over an energy range 0.2 - 10keV; Length: each 83.3 cm long Spectrometer (ACIS): sensitivity: 4x10-15 ergs-cm-2 sec -1 in 10 5 s Weight: 2104 pounds High Resolution Uses large field-of-view mircro-channel plates to make Focal Length: 10 meters Camera (HRC): X-ray images: ang. resolution < 0.5 arc-sec over field-of-view 31x31 arc0min; time resolution: 16 Outer Diameter 1.2 meters micro-sec Field of View: 1.0 degree diameter sensitivity: 4x10-15 ergs-cm-2 sec -1 in 10 5 s Ang. Resolution: 0.5 arc sec High Energy To be inserted into focused X-ray beam; provides spectral 6 reaction wheel control Transmission Altitude Control: resolution of 60-1000 over energy range 0.4 - 10 keV 2 inertial reference units Grating (HETG): Low Energy Aspect Camera: 1.40deg x 1.40deg field of view To be inserted into focused X-ray beam; provides spectral 0.25 arc-sec (RMS) radius over 95% Transmission Pointing Stability: resolution of 40-2000 over the energy range 0.09 - 3 keV of all 10 second periods Grating (LETG): Pointing Accuracy: 30 arc-sec 99% of viewing time Mirrors have an effective area of Remarks: 400 sq. cm. @1 keV; 330 A iridium coating

The AXAF program is managed by the Marshall Center for the Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters. TRW is the prime contractor and has assembled and tested the observatory for NASA.

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NASA'S CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY (CXO) Overall Specifications Spacecraft Specifications Size: 45.3 ft x 64.0 ft Power: two 3-panel silicon solar arrays (solar arrays deployed) (2350W) Weight: 10,560 pounds three 40 amp-hour nickel hydrogen batteries Orbit: 6,200 x 86,000 miles 28.5 deg. inclination Antennas: two low-gain, conical log spiral antennas Ascending node: 200 degrees Frequencies: transmit 2250 MHz, receive 2071.8 Argument of perigee 270 degrees MHz Life: minimum 5 years Command Link: 2 kilobits per second (kbps) Data Recording: solid state recorder; 1.8 gigabits (16.8 hours) recording capability Downlink Operations: downloaded typically every 8 hours Contigency Mode: 23kbps Safing: autonomous operation Telescope System Science Instruments High Resolution 4 sets of nested, grazed AXAF Charged Ten CCD chips in 2 arrays provide Mirror Assembly: incidence mirror pairs Couple Imaging imaging and spectroscopy; over an Length: each 83.3 cm long Spectrometer (ACIS): energy range 0.2 - 10keV; -15 -2 -1 Weight: 2104 pounds sensitivity: 4x10 ergs-cm sec in 10 5 s Focal Length: 10 meters High Resolution Uses large field-of-view Outer Diameter 1.2 meters Camera (HRC): mircro-channel plates to make X-ray Field of View: 1.0 degree diameter images: ang. resolution < 0.5 arc-sec Ang. Resolution: 0.5 arc sec over field-of-view 31x31 arc0min; 6 reaction wheel control time resolution: 16 micro-sec Altitude Control: 2 inertial reference units sensitivity: 4x10-15 ergs-cm-2 sec -1 in Aspect Camera: 1.40deg x 1.40deg field of view 10 5 s 0.25 arc-sec (RMS) radius over 95% High Energy To be inserted into focused X-ray Pointing Stability: of all 10 second periods Transmission beam; provides spectral resolution of Grating (HETG): 60-1000 over energy range 0.4 - 10 Pointing Accuracy: 30 arc-sec 99% of viewing time keV Mirrors have an effective area of Low Energy To be inserted into focused X-ray Remarks: 400 sq. cm. @1 keV; Transmission beam; provides spectral resolution of 330 A iridium coating Grating (LETG): 40-2000 over the energy range 0.09 - 3 keV The AXAF program is managed by the Marshall Center for the Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters. TRW is the prime contractor and has assembled and tested the observatory for NASA.

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Chandra: The Man Behind the Name

(December 1998)

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 02/24/99

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NASA Names Next Space X-ray Observatory For Noted Indian-American Astrophysicist

CXC Public Info & Education chandra.harvard.edu

Chandra Launch! chandra.harvard.edu/launch/

Scientific User Support asc.harvard.edu

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, honored by NASA

Chandra X-ray Observatory Center (CXC), Operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO). Continue: Page 2

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/fact5-1.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:53:13 AM] Chandra Press Room: Chandra Fact Sheet - the Man Behind the Name CHANDRA: The Man Behind The Name

Trained as a physicist at Presidency College, in Madras, India and at the University of Cambridge, in England, he was one of the first scientists to combine the disciplines of physics and astronomy. Early in his career he demonstrated that there is an upper limit now called the Chandrasekhar limit to the mass of a white dwarf star. A white dwarf is the last stage in the evolution of a star such as the sun. When the nuclear energy source in the center of a star such as the sun is exhausted, it collapses to form a white dwarf. This discovery is basic to much of modern astrophysics, since it shows that stars much more massive than the sun must either explode or form black holes

Chandra in his middle years

Chandra was a popular teacher who guided over fifty students to their Ph.D.s. His research explored nearly all branches of theoretical astrophysics and he published ten books, each covering a different topic, including one on the relationship between art and science. For 19 years, he served as editor of the Astrophysical Journal and turned it into a world-class publication. In 1983, Chandra was awarded the Nobel prize for his theoretical studies of the physical processes important to the structure and evolution of stars.

Chandra in his later years "Chandra probably thought longer and deeper about our universe than anyone since Einstein," said Martin Rees, Great Britain's Astronomer Royal.

According to Nobel laureate Hans Bethe, "Chandra was a first-rate astrophysicist and a beautiful and warm human being. I am happy to have known him."

Visit our new web site at http://chandra.harvard.edu

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http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/fact5-2.html (2 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:53:17 AM] Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA Names Next Space X-ray Observatory For Noted Indian-American Astrophysicist

CXC Public Info & Education chandra.harvard.edu/pub.html

Chandra Launch! chandra.harvard.edu/launch

Scientific User Support asc.harvard.edu Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, honored by NASA

Chandra X-ray Observatory Center (CXC), Operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO). CHANDRA: The Man Behind The Name

NASA's premier X-ray observatory was named the Chandra X-ray Observatory in honor of the late Indian- American Nobel laureate, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Known to the world as Chandra (which means "moon" or "luminous" in Sanskrit), he was widely regarded as one of the foremost astrophysicists of the twentieth century. Chandra in his early years Chandra immigrated in 1937 from India to the United States, where he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago, a position he remained at until his death. He and his wife became American citizens in 1953. Trained as a physicist at Presidency College, in Madras, In- dia and at the University of Cambridge, in England, he was one of the first scientists to combine the disciplines of physics and astronomy. Early in his career he demonstrated that there is an upper limit – now called the Chandrasekhar limit – to the mass of a white dwarf star. A white dwarf is the last stage in the evolution of a star such as the sun. When the nuclear energy source in the center of a star such as the sun is exhausted, it collapses to form a white dwarf. This discovery is basic to much of modern astrophysics, since it shows Chandra in his middle that stars much more massive than the sun must either ex- years plode or form black holes Chandra was a popular teacher who guided over fifty students to their Ph.D.s. His research explored nearly all branches of theoretical astrophysics and he published ten books, each covering a different topic, including one on the relationship between art and science. For 19 years, he served as editor of the Astrophysical Journal and turned it into a world-class publication. In 1983, Chandra was awarded the Nobel prize for his theoretical studies of the physical processes important to the structure and evolution of stars. Chandra in his later years "Chandra probably thought longer and deeper about our universe than anyone since Einstein," said Martin Rees, Great Britain's Astronomer Royal. According to Nobel laureate Hans Bethe, "Chandra was a first-rate astrophysicist and a beautiful and warm human being. I am happy to have known him."

Visit our new web site at http://chandra.harvard.edu Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheet Aug 29, 1997

Fact Sheet: August 29, 1997

Overall Specifications | Spacecraft System | Telescope System | Science Instruments | Science Instrument Module

AXAF Technical Specifications

Overall Specifications Top of Page

Size 45.3 feet long x 64.0 feet wingspan (fully deployed)

Weight 10,160 pounds

Orbital Data Inclination: 28.5 degrees Perigee altitude: 10,000 kilometers ApogeApogee altitude: 140,000 kilometers Ascending node: 200 degrees Argument of perigee: 270 degrees

On-orbit life > 5 years

Spacecraft System Top of Page

Electrical Power Two 3-panel, silicon solar arrays provide 2350 watts of power (End of Life) Three 40 ampere-hour nickel hydrogen batteries supply power in eclipse

Antennas Two low-gain, conical log sprial antennas provide spherical coverage

Frequencies Transmit 2250 megahertz (MHz) Receive 2071.8 MHz

Command Link 2 kilobits persecond (kbps)

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Data Recording Solid-state recorder; 1.8 gigabits (16.8 hours) of recording capacity

Downlink Options Selectable rates from 32 to 1024 kbps Downlink data includes pre-recorded engineering and science instrument data interleaved with real-time data

Downlink Operations Data downloaded to earth typically every 8 hours

Contingency Mode 32kbps

Safing Autonomous operation No ground intervention required to safe against any single fault

Telescope System Top of Page

High Resolution 4 sets of nested, grazing incidence Mirror Assembly parabaloid/hyperboloid mirror pairs Mirrors are each 83.3 cm long, constructed of zerodur material, polished to better than 7 angstroms root-mean-square (RMS) micro rougness, covered with 600 angstrom iridium coating Set of mirrors weighs 2104 pounds Focal Length: 10 meters Outer diameter: 1.2 meters Field of view: 1.0 degree diameter Unobscured clear aperture > 1136 sq. cm

Altitude Control 6 reaction wheel control 2 inertial reference units, each with two (2) two-degrees of freedom dry-tuned gyros updated autonomously with aspect camera data

Aspect Camera 1.40o x 1.40o field of view

Pointing Stability 0.25 arc-sec (RMS) radius over 95% of all 10 second periods

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Pointing Accuracy 30 arc-sec 99% of viewing time

Science Instruments Top of Page

AXAF Charged Coupled Provides simultaneous time-resolved Imaging Spectrometer imaging and spectroscopy (ACIS) Uses two CCD arrays, one for imaging, one for spectroscopy Imaging resolution is 0.5 arc-second over spectral range of 0.2 to 10 keV

High Resolution Camera Uses large field-of-view imaging (HRC) micro-channel plates to detect X-ray photons Provides highest spatial resolution of any instruments on AXAF satellite Angular resolution <0.5 arcseconds over the field of view 31 x 31 arcminutes over the spectral range of 0.1 to 10 keV

High Energy Transmission Designed to be inserted into focused X-ray Grating beam Contains 336 diffraction gratings Provides spectral resolution (E/ E) of 60-1000 over the energy range 0.4 to 10 keV

Low Energy Transmission Designed to be inserted into focused X-ray Grating beam Provides spectral resolution (E/ E) of 40-2000 over the energy range 0.09 to 3 keV

Top of Page Science Instrument Module

● Structural support for AXAF Charged Coupled Imaging Spectrometer and High Resolution Camera (HRC) ● Thermal Environment for ACIS and HRC ● Positions either ACIS or HRC into focal plane ● Provides focus adust for ACIS and HRC http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/fact1.html (3 of 4) [5/24/1999 9:53:23 AM] Chandra Press Room - Fact Sheet Aug 29, 1997

Information provided by TRW, Inc., the prime contractor for AXAF

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 11/13/98

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Press Images - Astronomical

Until Chandra images are available...here are some X-ray, optical comparisons and Chandra simulations.

Press Release Thumbnail Caption Date or Article

Comparison of optical and x-ray images of PR xx-xxx 10-29-98 Coma Cluster Large JPG Image

Abell 1367 PR xx-xxx 12-22-98 Comparison

Large JPG Image

M87 Nucleus and Jet, Rosat Image vs. PR xx-xxx 12-22-98 Chandra Simulation Large JPG Image

Categories: Spacecraft & Hardware Graphics People

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 12/15/98

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Press Images - Spacecraft & Hardware

Press Release Thumbnail Caption Date or Article

Chandra Spacecraft - PR xx-xxx 10-29-98 Latest TRW rendering

High Res Tif Image

Chandra Spacecraft PR xx-xxx 09-22-98

Completion of Thermal PR xx-xxx 09-22-98 Vacuum Test

High Res Tif Image

Portrayal of Shuttle Columbia PR xx-xxx 09-22-98 Deploying Chandra X-ray Observatory

High Res Tif Image

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Schematic of Chandra PR xx-xxx 09-22-98

High Res Tif Image

Categories: Graphics People Astronomical Images

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For instructions on downloading/saving and printing images see the Quick Guide to Images

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 12/15/98

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Press Images - Graphics

Press Thumbnail Caption Release or Date Article

Artist's Portrayal of Black PR xx-xxx 10-29-98 Hole

High Res Tif Image

Artist's Portrayal of PR xx-xxx 12-22-98 Blackhole

Star Comparison: The fate of PR xx-xxx 12-22-98 a star depends on its mass

High Res Tif Image

The Electromagnetic Spectrum and the Chandra PR xx-xxx 12-22-98 Spacecraft

High Res Tif Image

Categories: People

http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/press/cpr_graphics.html (1 of 2) [5/24/1999 9:54:16 AM] Chandra Press Room - Images

Astronomical Images Spacecraft & Hardware

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Press Line: 617.496.7998 Fax: 617.496.7577 [email protected]

Revised: 12/15/98

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