NuSTAR—Exploring the Hard X-ray UniverseFiona Harrison (CalTech) and the NuSTAR Team

ABSTRACT: The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), a proposed SMEX mission, will be the first focusing hard X-ray telescope in earth orbit, with imaging and spectroscopic capabilities in the 6-80 keV band. The telescope will employ an array of grazing-incidence segmented mirrors with depth-graded multilayer coatings to achieve 40 arcsec HPD resolution. This will enable the first true images of extended hard X-ray sources. High resolution also translates to high sensitivity for deep hard X-ray surveys. The telescope mirrors and detectors will be deployed on opposite ends of an extendable mast. The NuSTAR mission has three primary science goals. NuSTAR will make a census of Galactic and extragalactic black holes, with deep imaging surveys of the Galactic Center region and of the NDWFS and GOODS fields (studying highly absorbed sources near the peak of the extragalactic hard X-ray background). NuSTAR will image Ti-44 line emission in young supernova remnants to study the birth of the elements and supernova dynamics. Finally, NuSTAR will make spectral and time-variability studies of active galactic nuclei, in coordination with GLAST and other gamma-ray telescopes as well as ground-based radio and optical telescopes. In addition to these core programs, NuSTAR will be a new and powerful tool for the study of galactic compact objects, gamma-ray bursts, nearby supernovae, galaxy clusters, and other sources, opening the hard X-ray band to observations with unprecedented resolution and sensitivity.

The NuSTARtelescopes have direct heritage to the completed HEFT flight optics.

The 10m NuSTARmast is a direct adaptation of the 60m mast successfully flown on SRTM.

NuSTARdetector modules are based on HEFT flight units.

Conceptual view of the NuSTARobservatory stowed for launch in a Pegasus XL shroud. NuSTAR will be launched in 2007 into a 550km equatorial orbit for a 3 year mission.

Although it brings new capabilities to space, NuSTAR is solidly based on existing hardware from the HEFT SR&T program

NuSTAR Instrument

Concept