NASA pops repair kit in the mail so astronauts can fix leaky ISS telescope
- Reference: 1722511575
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/08/01/nicer_repair_kit_iss/
- Source link:
The telescope in question is the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), which developed a light leak in May 2023.
The telescope is attached near the station's starboard array and was launched on a SpaceX Dragon resupply mission in 2017. NICER was supposed to [1]last for 18 months , but its mission has since been extended. The telescope recently celebrated its seventh anniversary.
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As the name suggests, the telescope is all about the study of neutron stars. Its primary science instrument, the X-ray Timing Instrument (XTI), has an array of 56 X-ray photon detectors, which record the energies of photons and note when they hit.
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One of NICER's [5]goals is to answer a long-standing astrophysics question – how big is a neutron star?
It was all going swimmingly until May 22, 2023, between 1300 and 1400 UTC. The XTI developed a visible light leak, interfering with NICER's measurements. There are no problems during the orbital night, but the NICER team has had to alter its daytime observing strategy to mitigate the effect.
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The team determined that the light was entering through some damage to NICER's thermal shields, which cover each of the X-ray detectors and are designed to filter out infrared, ultraviolet, and visible light while allowing X-rays to pass through.
[7]According to NASA : "The largest damage to the shields is around the size of a typical US postage stamp. The other areas are closer in size to pinheads."
[8]Boeing Starliner crew get their ISS sleepover extended
[9]NASA sends 4K video from a flying plane to the ISS using lasers
[10]NASA will send astronauts to patch up leaky ISS telescope
[11]NASA confirms Florida house hit by a piece of ISS battery pack
The fix? Patches resembling oversized Trivial Pursuit pie pieces, which will slide into the sunshade. NASA plans to have astronauts fit five patches to deal with the worst of the damage, although 12 will be launched on next week's Northrop Grumman commercial resupply mission.
The turnaround time for the patches is impressive. The NICER team was [12]given the nod in January from the ISS program management team to proceed with a repair effort and was pondering whether a repair using the ISS robotics system would be viable, or if astronauts would need to venture outside the outpost to repair an instrument that was never designed to be repaired. The latter approach won out.
The ISS team has plenty of experience when it comes to repairing payloads that were never intended to be touched by astronauts. A series of spacewalks, ending in 2020, were undertaken [13]to repair the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02 (AMS-02).
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"It's incredible that in just one year, we were able to diagnose the problem and then design, build, test, and deliver a solution," said Steve Kenyon, NICER's mechanical lead at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
"We're so excited to see the patches installed during a future spacewalk, return to a more regular operating schedule, and keep doing groundbreaking science." ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/nicer/nicer_about.html
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[7] https://science.nasa.gov/missions/station/iss-research/nicer/repair-kit-for-nasas-nicer-mission-heading-to-space-station/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/26/starliner_stay_onboard_iss/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/nasa_4k_video_iss/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/18/nasa_nicer_repair_spacewalk/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/16/nasa_debris_florida_house/
[12] https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/nicer/news/releases/nicer_repair_202040124.html
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2019/12/03/ams_02/
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[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: "keep doing groundbreaking science"
The politics are, arguably, necessary to get people to pay for this. Without government support, not much astro-science would get done. It would be nice if gov't support was steady, but every part of gov't becomes part of the usual political games over time -- whether pro (pork-barrel spending) or con (mainly due to ideology) -- and there we agree that it stinks.
Aside from government, not enough rich eccentrics willing and/or able to pay for it themselves. Branson only had so much dough to spend on VG, and Musk built SpaceX to turn a profit, not altruism (and those profits partly paid by gov't via NASA). Not sure about Bezos/Blue Origin.
Nice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdWJpHt1Xws
There was me thinking duct tape would do the job. Good thing I'm not an astronaut.
> Good thing I'm not an astronaut.
Don't be too hard on yourself. Duct tape, and four maps, were used to fashion a replacement fender on the Apollo 17 lunar rover.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/duct-tape-saves-day/#:~:text=Duct%20tape%20comes%20in%20handy,which%20the%20fender%20was%20made.
Wasn't duct tape also part of the Apollo 13 oxygen scrubber canister fix? I'd say that's even more impressive that a dust shield (what the fender actually did), although I'll give credit for using duct tape in the vacuum of the moon's surface (the adhesive still worked!) while wearing the full environmental suit with those thick gloves.
> using duct tape in the vacuum of the moon's surface
Actually, the maps were taped together in the comfort of the LM cabin and attached to the remainder of the rover's fender using spring clamps.
Ah, that makes more sense. I didn't know the story -- thank you! In return, have this, as every good story deserves ---->
Thanks... I find the way the rover folds up particularly fascinating. Here's a video about it from the engineer that designed that. One of my bucket list items is to design and 3D print a replica. He still has that one of a kind model from 1968, of course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My4sr87MlhM
He escaped the Russians smashing down the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and in the video he says how sweet it was to help America beat the Russians to the Moon.
He died February 13th this year at 96. See https://www.independent.com/obits/2024/02/26/ferenc-pavlics/
An amazing book about the rover design is "Across the Airless Wilds" by Earl Swift. His point is Apollo 15/16/17 with the rover is where the REAL Lunar exploration was done.
Shaped like Trivial Pursuit tile?
A one-sixth segment of a circle.
"keep doing groundbreaking science"
And THAT is the mission goal for all of NASA, ESA, JAXA et al.
And God damn politics that get in the way.