{"id":792484,"date":"2025-01-08T12:15:06","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T17:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=792484"},"modified":"2025-01-08T12:15:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T17:15:06","slug":"astronaut-set-to-patch-nasas-x-ray-telescope-aboard-space-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=792484","title":{"rendered":"Astronaut Set to Patch NASA\u2019s X-ray Telescope Aboard Space Station"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\" class=\"padding-top-5 padding-bottom-3 width-full maxw-full hds-module hds-module-full wp-block-nasa-blocks-article-intro\">\n<div class=\"width-full maxw-full article-header\">\n<div class=\"margin-bottom-2 width-full maxw-full\">\n<p class=\"label carbon-60 margin-0 margin-bottom-3 padding-0\">4 min read<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"display-48 margin-bottom-2\">Astronaut Set to Patch NASA\u2019s X-ray Telescope Aboard Space Station<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>NASA astronaut Nick Hague will install patches to the agency\u2019s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) X-ray telescope on the International Space Station as part of a spacewalk scheduled for Jan. 16. Hague, along with astronaut Suni Williams, will also complete other tasks during the outing.<\/p>\n<p>NICER\u00a0will be the first NASA observatory repaired on-orbit since the last servicing mission for the\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope\u00a0in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>Hague and other astronauts, including Don Pettit, who is also currently on the space station, rehearsed the NICER patch procedures in the\u00a0NBL (Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory), a 6.2-million-gallon indoor pool at\u00a0NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center\u00a0in Houston, in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-image-carousel grid-container grid-container-block padding-top-8 padding-bottom-8 hds-module hds-module-full wp-block-nasa-blocks-image-carousel\">\n<div class=\"hds-carousel-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"image-carousel-slider margin-0\" id=\"image-carousel-slider\">\n<div class=\"display-block width-full\">\n<figure class=\"margin-0\">\n<div class=\"hds-cover-wrapper hds-image-carousel-slide margin-bottom-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\">\n<figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-cover \"><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">NASA astronaut Nick Hague holds a patch for NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) at the end of a T-handle tool during a training exercise on May 16, 2024, in the NBL (Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory) at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston.\u00a0<\/div>\n<div class=\"hds-credits\">NASA\/NBL Dive Team<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"display-block width-full\">\n<figure class=\"margin-0\">\n<div class=\"hds-cover-wrapper hds-image-carousel-slide margin-bottom-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\">\n<figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-cover \"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"8256\" height=\"5504\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.science.nasa.gov\/dynamicimage\/assets\/science\/missions\/nicer\/news\/2025\/pool-training\/NICER_NBL_Pool_Test-05.jpg?w=8256&#038;h=5504&#038;fit=clip&#038;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"An astronaut practicing in a pool\" style=\"object-position: 50% 50%;object-fit: cover\" \/><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">Astronaut Nick Hague removes a patch from the caddy using a T-handle tool during a training exercise in the NBL at NASA Johnson on May 16, 2024. The booklet on his wrist has a schematic of the NICER telescope and where the patches will go.<\/div>\n<div class=\"hds-credits\">NASA\/NBL Dive Team<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"hds-carousel-nav display-flex margin-left-auto margin-right-0\">\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"hds-carousel-nav-arrow hds-carousel-arrow-prev\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"hds-carousel-nav-arrow hds-carousel-arrow-next margin-right-0\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe use the NBL to mimic, as much as possible, the conditions astronauts will experience while preforming a task during a spacewalk,\u201d said Lucas Widner, a flight controller at KBR and NASA Johnson who ran the NICER NBL sessions. \u201cMost projects outside the station focus on maintenance and upgrades to components like solar panels. It\u2019s been exciting for all of us to be part of getting a science mission back to normal operations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From its perch near the space station\u2019s starboard solar array, NICER studies the X-ray sky, including erupting galaxies,\u00a0black holes, superdense stellar remnants called\u00a0neutron stars, and even comets in our solar system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But in\u00a0May 2023, NICER developed a \u201clight leak.\u201d Sunlight began entering the telescope through several small, damaged areas in the telescope\u2019s thin thermal shields. During the station\u2019s daytime, the light reaches the X-ray detectors, saturating sensors and interfering with NICER\u2019s measurements of cosmic objects. The mission team altered their daytime observing strategy to mitigate the effect.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-image-carousel grid-container grid-container-block padding-top-8 padding-bottom-8 hds-module hds-module-full wp-block-nasa-blocks-image-carousel\">\n<div class=\"hds-carousel-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"image-carousel-slider margin-0\" id=\"image-carousel-slider\">\n<div class=\"display-block width-full\">\n<figure class=\"margin-0\">\n<div class=\"hds-cover-wrapper hds-image-carousel-slide margin-bottom-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\">\n<figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-cover \"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"5568\" height=\"3712\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.science.nasa.gov\/dynamicimage\/assets\/science\/missions\/nicer\/news\/2025\/pool-training\/iss069e051526.jpg?w=5568&#038;h=3712&#038;fit=clip&#038;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"A close-up of NICER\" style=\"object-position: 50% 50%;object-fit: cover\" \/><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi captured this view of NICER from a window in the space station\u2019s Poisk Mini-Research Module 2 in July 2023. Photos like this one helped the NICER team map the damage to the telescope\u2019s thermal shields.<\/div>\n<div class=\"hds-credits\">NASA\/Sultan Alneyadi<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"display-block width-full\">\n<figure class=\"margin-0\">\n<div class=\"hds-cover-wrapper hds-image-carousel-slide margin-bottom-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\">\n<figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-cover \"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1736\" height=\"977\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.science.nasa.gov\/dynamicimage\/assets\/science\/missions\/nicer\/news\/2025\/pool-training\/DamageZoom_Annotated.jpg?w=1736&#038;h=977&#038;fit=clip&#038;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"A close-up of damage to NICER\u2019s thermal shields\" style=\"object-position: 50% 50%;object-fit: cover\" \/><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">Some of NICER\u2019s damaged thermal shields (circled) are visible in this photograph.<\/div>\n<div class=\"hds-credits\">NASA\/Sultan Alneyadi<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"hds-carousel-nav display-flex margin-left-auto margin-right-0\">\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"hds-carousel-nav-arrow hds-carousel-arrow-prev\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"hds-carousel-nav-arrow hds-carousel-arrow-next margin-right-0\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The team also developed a plan to cover the largest areas of damage using\u00a0wedge-shaped patches. Hague will slide the patches into the telescope\u2019s sunshades and lock them into place.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe designed the patches so they could be installed either robotically or by an astronaut,\u201d said Steve Kenyon, NICER\u2019s mechanical engineering lead at\u00a0NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center\u00a0in Greenbelt, Maryland. \u201cThey\u2019re installed using a tool called a T-handle that the astronauts are already familiar with.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The NBL contains life-size mockups of sections of the\u00a0space station. Under the supervision of a swarm of scuba divers, a pair of astronauts rehearse exiting and returning through an airlock, traversing the outside of the station, and completing tasks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For the NICER repair, the NBL team created a full-scale model of NICER and its surroundings near the starboard solar array. Hague, Pettit, and other astronauts practiced taking the patches out of their caddy, inserting them into the sunshades, locking them into place, and verifying they were secure.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The task took just under an hour each time, which included the time astronauts needed to travel to NICER, set up their tools, survey the telescope for previously undetected damage, complete the repair, and clean up their tools.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Practice runs also provided opportunities for the astronauts to troubleshoot how to position themselves so they could reach NICER without touching it too often and for flight controllers to identify safety concerns around the repair.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-image-carousel grid-container grid-container-block padding-top-8 padding-bottom-8 hds-module hds-module-full wp-block-nasa-blocks-image-carousel\">\n<div class=\"hds-carousel-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"image-carousel-slider margin-0\" id=\"image-carousel-slider\">\n<div class=\"display-block width-full\">\n<figure class=\"margin-0\">\n<div class=\"hds-cover-wrapper hds-image-carousel-slide margin-bottom-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\">\n<figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-cover \"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"8256\" height=\"5504\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.science.nasa.gov\/dynamicimage\/assets\/science\/missions\/nicer\/news\/2025\/pool-training\/NICER_NBL_Pool_Test-16.jpg?w=8256&#038;h=5504&#038;fit=clip&#038;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"An astronaut in a pool\" style=\"object-position: 50% 50%;object-fit: cover\" \/><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">Astronaut Don Pettit simulates taking pictures of the NICER telescope mockup during a training exercise in the NBL at NASA Johnson on May 16, 2024.<\/div>\n<div class=\"hds-credits\">NASA\/NBL Dive Team<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"display-block width-full\">\n<figure class=\"margin-0\">\n<div class=\"hds-cover-wrapper hds-image-carousel-slide margin-bottom-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\">\n<figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-cover \"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"8256\" height=\"5504\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.science.nasa.gov\/dynamicimage\/assets\/science\/missions\/nicer\/news\/2025\/pool-training\/NICER_NBL_Pool_Test-09.jpg?w=8256&#038;h=5504&#038;fit=clip&#038;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"An astronaut in a pool\" style=\"object-position: 50% 50%;object-fit: cover\" \/><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">Astronaut Don Pettit removes a patch from the caddy during a training exercise in the NBL at NASA Johnson on May 16, 2024.<\/div>\n<div class=\"hds-credits\">NASA\/NBL Dive Team<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"hds-carousel-nav display-flex margin-left-auto margin-right-0\">\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"hds-carousel-nav-arrow hds-carousel-arrow-prev\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"hds-carousel-nav-arrow hds-carousel-arrow-next margin-right-0\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Being fully submerged in a pool is not the same as being in space, of course, so some issues that arose were \u201cpool-isms.\u201d For example, astronauts sometimes drifted upward while preparing to install the patches in a way unlikely to happen in space.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Members of the NICER team, including Kenyon and the mission\u2019s principal investigator, Keith Gendreau at NASA Goddard, supported the NBL practice runs. They helped answer questions about the physical aspects of the telescope, as well as science questions from the astronauts and flight controllers. NICER is the leading source of science results on the space station.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was awesome to watch the training sessions and be able to debrief with the astronauts afterward,\u201d Gendreau said. \u201cThere isn\u2019t usually a lot of crossover between astrophysics science missions and human spaceflight. NICER will be the first X-ray telescope serviced by astronauts. It\u2019s been an exciting experience, and we\u2019re all looking forward to the spacewalk where it will all come together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The NICER telescope is an Astrophysics Mission of Opportunity within NASA\u2019s Explorers Program, which provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class scientific investigations from space utilizing innovative, streamlined, and efficient management approaches within the heliophysics and astrophysics science areas. NASA\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate supported the SEXTANT component of the mission, demonstrating pulsar-based spacecraft navigation.<\/p>\n<div id=\"\" class=\"nasa-gb-align-center nasa-button-link padding-y-1 padding-x-0 hds-module wp-block-nasa-blocks-related-link\">\n\t<br \/>\n\t\t<span class=\"line-height-alt-1\">Download high-resolution images and videos of NICER at NASA&#8217;s Scientific Visualization Studio.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>By\u00a0Jeanette Kazmierczak<\/strong><br \/><strong>NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Media Contact:<\/strong><br \/><strong>Claire Andreoli<\/strong><br \/><strong>301-286-1940<\/strong><br \/><strong>claire.andreoli@nasa.gov<\/strong><br \/><strong>NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-social-media hds-social-media--horizontal grid-container grid-container-block nasa-gb-align- width-full maxw-full margin-y-0 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class=\"article-tag\">Black Holes<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-tag\">Goddard Space Flight Center<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-tag\">International Space Station (ISS)<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-tag\">ISS Research<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-tag\">Johnson Space Center<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-tag\">Neutron Stars<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-tag\">NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer)<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-tag\">Pulsars<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-tag\">The Universe<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/missions\/station\/iss-research\/nicer\/astronaut-set-to-patch-nasas-x-ray-telescope-aboard-space-station\/?rand=772197\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>4 min read Astronaut Set to Patch NASA\u2019s X-ray Telescope Aboard Space Station NASA astronaut Nick Hague will install patches to the agency\u2019s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) X-ray&hellip; 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