NuSTAR
Full Name: Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array
Phase: Development
Launch Date: August 15, 2011
Mission Project Home Page: http://www.nustar.caltech.edu/
Program(s): Astrophysics Explorers
The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array is an Explorer mission that will allow astronomers to study the universe in high energy X-rays. Launching in 2011, NuSTAR will be the first focusing hard X-ray telescope to orbit Earth and is expected to greatly exceed the performance of the largest ground-based observatories that have observed this region of the <define>electromagnetic spectrum. NuSTAR will also complement astrophysics missions that explore the cosmos in other regions of the spectrum.
X-ray telescopes such as Chandra and XMM-Newton have observed the X-ray universe at low X-ray energy levels. By focusing higher energy X-rays, NuSTAR will start to answer several fundamental questions about the Universe including:
- How are black holes distributed through the cosmos?
- How were heavy elements forged in the explosions of massive stars?
- What powers the most extreme active galaxies?
NuSTAR's primary science objectives include:
- Conducting a census for black holes on all scales using wide-field surveys of extragalactic fields and the Galactic center.
- Mapping radioactive material in young supernova remnants; Studying the birth of the elements and to understand how stars explode.
- Observing relativistic jets found in the most extreme active galaxies and to understand what powers giant cosmic accelerators.
NuSTAR will also study the origin of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars while responding to targets of opportunity including supernovae and gamma-ray bursts. NuSTAR will perform follow-up observations to discoveries made by Chandra and Spitzer, and will team with GLAST, making simultaneous observations which will greatly enhancing GLAST's science return.