Many of the best computer models of supernovas fail to produce an explosion. At the end of the simulation, gravity wins the day and the star simply collapses. Clearly, physicists are missing something. To figure out what's going on, Fiona Harrison, an astrophysicist at the California Institute of Technology, and colleagues would like to examine the inside of a real supernova while it's exploding. That's not possible, so they're doing the next best thing. Using a telescope named "NuSTAR" --short for Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array -- they'll be scanning the debris from supernovas as soon as possible after the blast. Read more
NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) launched into the morning skies over the central Pacific Ocean at 9 a.m. PDT (noon EDT) Wednesday, beginning its mission to unveil secrets of buried black holes and other exotic objects. Read more
The US space agency (Nasa) has launched its latest orbiting X-ray observatory. The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (Nustar) was sent into space on a Pegasus rocket operated out of the Kwajalein Atol in the central Pacific. Read more
X-ray telescope to focus on hottest regions of black holes, supernovas
NASA is scheduled to launch an orbiting X-ray satellite on Wednesday, June 13, that will open a new window on the universe, allowing scientists to probe the roiling edges of black holes, the turbulent outflow from exploding stars, and the smallest, most frequent flares on the sun. Read more
Orbital's Pegasus Rocket Carrying NASA's NuSTAR Satellite Arrives at Kwajalein Atoll Launch Site
Orbital Sciences Corporation, one of the world's leading space technology companies, today announced that its Pegasus® rocket, which will launch NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) satellite, has arrived at its launch site in the mid-Pacific Ocean. Following a 4,200 nautical mile ferry flight that included a refuelling stop at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, Orbital's "Stargazer" L-1011 carrier aircraft arrived at the Reagan Test Site airfield on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, where the NuSTAR launch will originate. The launch is currently scheduled for June 13 at approximately 11:30 a.m. (EDT), subject to final pre-launch testing and acceptable weather conditions at the time of launch. Read more
NASA to Host News Teleconference About NuSTAR Launch
NASA will host a news teleconference at 19:00 UT, 11th June to discuss the upcoming launch of its Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) observatory, scheduled for no earlier than 15:30 UT, 13th June. Read more
A small rocket and its NASA telescope will depart Vandenberg Air Force Base today, but not in the traditional way for a satellite travelling to space. The air-launched Pegasus XL rocket built by Orbital Sciences Corp. is affixed under the belly of a modified L-1011 Stargazer that was scheduled to depart about 1 p.m. today from Vandenberg's airfield. Read more
Ed ~ The launch from Kwajalein Atoll is scheduled for between 15:30 to 19:30 UT, 13th June, 2012.
NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, is being prepared for the final journey to its launch pad on Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean. The mission will study everything from massive black holes to our own sun. It is scheduled to launch no earlier than June 13. Read more