#Interior international space station how to#

NICER's X-ray Timing Instrument (XTI) represents an innovative configuration of high-heritage components. Finally, in addition to its science goals, NICER will enable the first space demonstration of pulsar-based navigation of spacecraft, through the Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT) enhancement to the mission, funded by the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate's Game-Changing Development program. NICER will also provide continuity in X-ray-timing astrophysics more broadly, post-Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, through a Guest Observer program. The capabilities that NICER brings to this investigation are unique: simultaneous fast timing and spectroscopy, with low background and high throughput. The NICER mission achieves these goals by deploying an X-ray timing and spectroscopy instrument on the International Space Station (ISS).īy answering a long-standing astrophysics question - How big is a neutron star? - NICER will confront nuclear physics theory with unique measurements, exploring the exotic states of matter within neutron stars through rotation-resolved X-ray spectroscopy. NICER will enable rotation-resolved spectroscopy of the thermal and non-thermal emissions of neutron stars in the soft (0.2-12 keV) X-ray band with unprecedented sensitivity, probing interior structure, the origins of dynamic phenomena, and the mechanisms that underlie the most powerful cosmic particle accelerators known. With few such constraints forthcoming from observations, theory has advanced a host of models to describe the physics governing neutron star interiors these models can be tested with astrophysical observations. The nature of matter under these conditions is a decades-old unsolved problem, one most directly addressed with measurements of the masses and, especially, radii of neutron stars to high precision (i.e., better than 10 percent uncertainty). They squeeze more than 1.4 solar masses into a city-size volume, giving rise to the highest stable densities known anywhere. Neutron stars are unique environments in which all four fundamental forces of nature are simultaneously important.

The Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) is an International Space Station (ISS) payload devoted to the study of neutron stars through soft X-ray timing. Details of previously submitted TOO/DDT requests are available at the TOO Summary page.įalcon 9 rocket on Jat 17:07 EDT (21:07 UTC)

#Interior international space station how to#

Any questions regarding how to make TOO requests should be sent to the NICER Helpdesk via the HEASARC's Feedback Form. The NICER team monitors the Gamma-ray Coordination Network (GCN)/Transient Astronomy Network (TAN). This tool is especially useful for planning The NICER team recommends that PIs use the NICERĮnhanced Visibility Calculator to check the near term (~2 weeks) TOO requests should be submitted via the ARK/RPS NICER Target of Opportunity/Director's Discretionary Time Request form. NICER is capable of following up on Targets of Opportunity (ToO) within 4 hours (depending on source visibility). Requesting Targets of Opportunity (ToOs) with NICER The Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer Mission