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Chandra Symposium, October 16-

17, 2010

The Chandra X-ray

Observatory

Gordon P. Garmire

Penn State University

The black holes of nature are the most perfect macroscopic objects there are in

the universe: the only elements in their construction are our concepts of space

and time.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar

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Outline

• A brief history of the observatory

• The early years

• The big test

• Construction at last

• Troubles along the way

• Testing

• Launch

• Results

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A brief history

• 1960 Giacconi and Rossi paper on X-Ray Telescope Design

• 1970 Large Orbiting X-Ray Telescope (LOXT) proposal submitted

• 1972 project cancelled, but _ LOXT phoenix-like emerges tobecome the Einstein Observatory

• 1976 Giacconi and Tananbaum submit proposal for 1.2 m X-rayObservatory

• 1977 study group formed by NASA to define a 1.2 m X-RayObservatory

• 1985 Instrument selection of AXAF

• 1991 1.2 mirror “proves” it can be done

• 1992 De-scope from 6 to 4 mirrors and go to high earth orbit.

• 1997 High Resolution Mirror Assembly completed

• 1998 AXAF calibrated and ready for assembly

• 1999 AXAF/Chandra launched by STS93 and begins operation

The Early Years

• 1980 Mission Definition Team provides

baseline AXAF

• 1985 Instrument selection

• Selling the program to NASA and to

Congress took a lot of politicking

• The Great Observatories Program of

NASA (C. Pellerin in particular) helped a

lot (Hubble, AXAF, CGRO and SIRTIF).

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The big test

• Congress asks NASA to prove it can make amirror to AXAF spec in three years

• NASA accepts the challenge – failure wouldmean cancellation!

• The mirrors were completed and tested byOctober 1991 on schedule, and met therequirements of the AXAF program – a tribute toan enormous effort by Perkin Elmer (HughesDanbury Optical Systems) and the scientistsinvolved, led by Dr. Leon van Speybroeck, theAXAF telescope scientist.

Troubles along the way

• OMB and Congress threaten to cancelAXAF

• NASA convinces scientists to de-scopethe mission

• De-scoped mission looks viable with someloss of capability– 4 mirrors instead of 6

– Two focal plane instruments instead of four

– High Earth orbit –no servicing possible

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Schematic of an X-Ray Telescope

The Test Mirror Assembled

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The spacecraft epoxy structure

The P1 mirror before coating

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The P3 mirror being ground

At the coating lab

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Assembly of Mirror pairs at Kodak

The telescope tube – fiber epoxy

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The objective gratings

Does it fit?

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The High Resolution Camera

The HRC Camera and Electronics

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The Full ACIS Instrument

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ACIS Development Team

Gordon Garmire, IPI

John Nousek, Lead Co-I

Pat Broos

David Burrows

George Chartas

Eric Feigelson

Audrey Garmire

Scott Koch

George Pavlov

Leisa Townsley

Eric Cocklin

Catherine Grant

Kaori Nishikida

George Ricker, Dep. IPI

Bill Mayer, Manager

Mark Bautz, Proj. Sci.

Claude Canizares

Steve Jones

Steve Kissel

Gregory Prigozhin

Herb Manning

Fred Baganoff

Takashi Isobe

Hale Bradt

George Clark

Saul Rappaport

John Doty

Robert Goeke

Ed Boughan

Rick Foster

Peter Ford

Jim Francis

Gordon Gong

Dorothy Gordon

Phil Gray

Pete Tappan

Brian Klatt

Matt Smith

Eric Kintner

Demitrios Athens

Beverly LaMarr

Mike Pivovaroff

Mike Doucette

Fred Kasperian

Dan Hanlon

Fred Miller

Jim O’ Connor

Ann Davis

Bob Blozie

Bernie Kosicki

Barry Burke

Jim Gregory

Al Pillsbury

Lloyd Oldham

Neil Tice

Scott Anderson

Ed Sedivy

Larry Campbell

S. Andy Collins

Steve Pravdo

Albert Metzger

Wallace Sargent

Penn State MIT CSR (MKI) MIT Lincoln

Lockheed-Martin

JPL/Caltech

+SAO & MSFC!

The ACIS Door Caper

• ACIS door design

was excellent, but

it relied on paraffin

actuators with self-

destructive

tendencies.

Door actuators

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At the Calibration Facility

Some things are hard to reach

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Assembling the Telescope to the

S/C

Camera integration at BBRC

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Attaching the Cameras to the S/C

Chandra X-ray Observatory

CXC

Final Exam of Chandra Spacecraft

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22 September 2009 Chandra's First Decade

MWB for Gordon Garmire

The ACIS Door Caper

• ACIS door design

was excellent, but

it relied on paraffin

actuators with self-

destructive

tendencies.

Door actuators

Chandra X-ray Observatory

CXC

ACIS Test Unit

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Complete Assembly with booster

Launch!

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The Crew

Chandra ready for IUS burn

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AXAF Launch sequence

The door opened!

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The Chandra and HST Crab

Nebula

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The oxygen-rich SNR G292.0+1.8Peter Romig, David Burrows, Sangwook Park, Jack Hughes and Pat

Slane

The mysterious central object in

RCW103

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1E0657 colliding clusters

AcknowledgmentsThe pictures of the construction were obtained from the

Chandra Science Center(http://chandra.harvard.edu/resources/chandraMission.html)

and from Robert Burke & Blake Bullock at NorthropGrumman Aerospace Systems and Mark Bautz, MIT

The SgrA* image is from F. Baganoff, MIT

The SNR RCW103 from A. Garmire, PSU

The Crab Nebula from D. Burrows (PSU) and J. Hester(AZS)

The 1E0675 image from the Chandra Science CenterArchives

NASA/SAO contract SV4-74018