This story was originally published by NASA and is unaltered.

(C) NASA
This story was originally published by NASA and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .

Astronauts To Patch Up NASA’s NICER Telescope [1]

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Date: 2025-01

The telescope has 56 aluminum X-ray concentrators. Each concentrator has a set of nested mirrors, designed to skip X-rays into a detector. In front of the concentrator lies a thin filter, called a thermal shield, that blocks out sunlight. The concentrator is topped by a hollow circular piece of carbon composite, called a sunshade, with six segments that resemble a sliced pie. The sunshade is designed to keep the concentrators cool in sunlight and protect the delicate thermal shields. After the light leak developed, photos revealed several small areas of damage in some of the shields, though what caused them is still unclear.

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[1] Url: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/station/iss-research/nicer/astronauts-to-patch-up-nasas-nicer-telescope/

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