NASA working to fix space station's NICER X-ray telescope
June 24 (UPI) -- The Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer X-ray telescope has a bad motor that paused its tracking of cosmic objects until NASA engineers can fix it.
NASA engineers are working to fix the problem after pausing the telescope's operations on June 17, when its ability to track celestial objects degraded, according to NASA.
The space agency did not say when the telescope might resume working.
The telescope is mounted on the International Space Station near its starboard solar array and has been in use since 2017.
It can measure neutron stars, identify black holes, active galaxies and other phenomena. It also can help to map routes to Mars for future exploration and other missions.
The latest issue with the NICER telescope is among many that it has experienced since its 2017 deployment.
The NICER telescope developed a light leak in May 2023 when several thin thermal shields were damaged and let in sunlight that made the telescope useless during daylight hours.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague in January installed nine patches to fix the worst areas of damage, but some light interference continued to affect the telescope's performance.
A closer inspection showed several smaller cracks and holes that still allowed light to enter the telescope.
NASA engineers reconfigured the telescope's measurement-power unit to compensate for the light intrusion, which enabled the telescope to resume its normal operations on March 12.
Additional damage to at least one thermal shield forced NASA to minimize daytime observations on May 22, which caused another modification in the telescope's use.
X-ray telescopes, like the NICER, enable NASA scientists to study and better understand extreme radio events in space.
Observations from the NICER telescope and a Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array that is in low-Earth orbit enabled NASA scientists to assess a rapid burst of radio waves from a dead star called a magnetar in 2020.
The burst released as much energy in a fraction of a second as the sun does during an entire year, according to a study published in the journal Nature.
The powerful energy burst produced a laser-like beam instead of an explosion.
NASA scientists in October 2022 used the same two telescopes to observe another burst of radio waves from the same magnetar.
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