NASA's $165 million Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission will scan the skies for X-ray emissions from black holes.<\/p>\n
NASA is counting down to the planned launch of its newest space telescope today (June 13) on a mission to search for black holes in the universe. <\/p>\n
The $165 millionNuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array(NuSTAR)mission will hunt for black holes by scanning X-ray light at higher energies than any spacecraft before. <\/p>\n
TheNuSTAR telescope is set to launchatop an unmanned Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket, which will be carried into launch position by an L-1011 \"Stargazer\" jet aircraft taking off from the Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. The launch was originally slated for 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT), but has now been pushed back by half an hour to noon EDT (1600 GMT) to allow technicians to check out a minor technical issue. The issue has now been cleared, but the timeline is slightly delayed from the extra work. The vehicle has a four-hour launch window available today. <\/p>\n
Forecasters predict a 90 to 95 percent chance of good weather for the launch, with only a slim chance of rain threatening the liftoff. <\/p>\n
The NuSTAR project is one of NASA's Small Explorer missions, and is expected to spend two years mapping the universe's black hole population. <\/p>\n
The school bus-sizeNuSTARwill target some of the most mysterious parts of our universe, such as the high-energy regions where matter is falling onto black holes, as well as the leftovers from dead stars after they've exploded in supernovas. <\/p>\n
\"It really is a new way of doing business to try to focus on the hard X-ray,\" said William Craig, NuSTAR instrument manager at the University of California at Berkeley, during a Monday briefing. <\/p>\n
About 70 minutes before launch, NuSTAR's carrier plane will depart Kwajalein and fly to a spot 117 nautical miles south of the atoll, where it will drop the rocket at an altitude of 39,000 feet over the ocean. <\/p>\n
Mission managers officially gave NuSTAR's rocket the go-ahead to launch after an in-depth mission readiness review meeting on Tuesday (June 12). <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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NASA to launch school-bus-sized space telescope to hunt black holes (+video)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASA's $165 million Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission will scan the skies for X-ray emissions from black holes. Continue reading