Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission
Fiona Harrison
California Institute of Technology
fiona@srl.caltech.edu
Additional authors: NuSTAR Science Team
NuSTAR, a SMEX mission currently undergoing a Phase A study, will be the first highly-sensitive, focusing telescope to image the hard X-ray (8 - 80 keV) sky. NuSTAR's unprecedented combination of sensitivity, angular and spectral resolution allow it to carry out a number of high priority scientific investigations, including: 1) taking a census of black holes on all scales, achieved through deep, wide-field surveys of extragalactic fields and the Galactic center, 2) mapping recently-synthesized material in 44Ti in young supernova remnants to constrain nucleosynthesis and explosion models, and 3) studying the spectra and time-variability in the most extreme AGN. NuSTAR's three-year mission will take place at the end of this decade. NuSTAR can thus team with GLAST to observe extreme phenomena, provide timely followup for Spitzer and Chandra, and, through a series of wide-area surveys, be a pathfinder for Constellation-X. NuSTAR's instrumentation approach is based on mature, developed technology, and the spacecraft has a high-degree of heritage. The low-Earth, equatorial orbit and infrequent repointings allow for a simple operations plan.
