During 2014 and 2015, NASA's Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission proceeded successfully through Phase C, Design and Development. An X-ray (0.2-12 keV) astrophysics payload destined for the International Space Station, NICER is manifested for launch in early 2017 on the Commercial Resupply Services SpaceX-11 flight. Its scientific objectives are to investigate the internal structure, dynamics, and energetics of neutron stars, the densest objects in the universe. During Phase C, flight components including optics, detectors, the optical bench, pointing actuators, electronics, and others were subjected to environmental testing and integrated to form the flight payload. A custom-built facility was used to co-align and integrate the X-ray "concentrator" optics and silicon-drift detectors. Ground calibration provided robust performance measures of the optical (at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center) and detector (at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) subsystems, while comprehensive functional tests prior to payload-level environmental testing met all instrument performance requirements. We describe here the implementation of NICER's major subsystems, summarize their performance and calibration, and outline the component-level testing that was successfully applied.

We report results of a recently-completed pre-Formulation Phase study of SPIRIT, a candidate NASA Origins Probe mission. SPIRIT is a spatial and spectral interferometer with an operating wavelength range 25 -400 µm. SPIRIT will provide sub-arcsecond resolution images and spectra with resolution R = 3000 in a 1 arcmin field of view to accomplish three primary scientific objectives: (1) Learn how planetary systems form from protostellar disks, and how they acquire their inhomogeneous composition; (2) characterize the family of extrasolar planetary systems by imaging the structure in debris disks to understand how and where planets of different types form; and (3) learn how high-redshift galaxies formed and merged to form the present-day population of galaxies. Observations with SPIRIT will be complementary to those of the James Webb Space Telescope and the ground-based Atacama Large Millimeter Array. All three observatories could be operational contemporaneously.

We present a conceptual design for a scalable (10-50 meter segmented filled-aperture) space observatory operating at UV-optical-near infrared wavelengths. This telescope is designed for assembly in space by robots, astronauts or a combination of the two, as envisioned in NASA's Vision for Space Exploration. Our operations concept for this space telescope provides for assembly and check-out in an Earth Moon L2 (EML2) orbit, and transport to a Sun-Earth L2 (SEL2) orbit for science operations and routine servicing, with return to EML2 for major servicing. We have developed and analyzed initial designs for the optical, structural, thermal and attitude control systems for a 30-m aperture space telescope. We further describe how the separate components are packaged for launch by heavy lift vehicle(s) and the approach for the robot assembly of the telescope from these components.

Abstract. We present a new approach to building a modular segmented space telescope that greatly leverages the heritage of the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. The modular design in which mirror segments are assembled into identical panels allows for economies of scale and for efficient space assembly that make a 20-m aperture approach cost effective. This assembly approach can leverage NASA’s future capabilities and has the power to excite the public’s imagination. We discuss the science drivers, basic architecture, technology, and leveraged NASA infrastructure, concluding with a proposed plan for going forward. © 2013 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) [DOI: 10.1117/1.OE.52.9.091802

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission ('LDCM), a joint NASA and USGS mission, is scheduled for launch in December, 2012. The LRCM instrument payload will consist of the Operational Land Imager (OLI), provided by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation (BATC } under contract to NASA and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), provided by NASA's Goddard Space Hight Center (GSFC). This paper outlines the design of the TIRS instrument and gives an example of its application to monitoring water consumption by measuring evapotranspiration.Inter Terms-TIRS, LDCM, evapotranspiration I\TROD[ CT1ONAs is implied in the mission name, one element of the LDCM project is to provide continuity with past Landsat sensors. Another element is to provide improvernents in sensors where possible. The Thematic: Mapper (TM), Enhanced Thematic iMapper (ETXl), and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM-) sensors are good examples of this philosophy as the thermal infrared band improved in spatial resolution from 120 to 60 rn for the single-band, whiskbroom-approach systems (See [2] and references therin). While such data have proved important in providing land-use information, volcanic and lire-monitoring, data, and resource management guidance, a dual-band sensor at lower spatial resolution but with improved sensitivity would maintain continuity and provide valuable data for water resource management and agricultural studies. TIRE on LRCM is a 100 meter (I20 meter requirement) spatial resolution push-broorn imager whose two spectral channels, centered at near I0.8 and 12 microns. split the spectral range of the single TM and ETMt thermal band while still providing thermal band data continuity with previous Landsat missions. The push-broom implementation increases s ystem sensitivity by allowing longer integration times than whiskbroom sensors. The two channels allow the use of the split-window" technique to aid in atmospheric correction. The TIRS focal plane operates near 43 K and consists of three Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) arrays to span the 185 km swath width [5]. Infrared filters are used to define the spectral coverage of the two channels. The imaging telescope is a 4-element refractive leas system. A scene select mechanism (SSIvI ) rotates a scene mirror (SM) to change the field of regard from a nadir Earth view to either an on-board blackbody calibrator or a deep space view. The blackbod y is a full aperture calibrator whose temperature may be varied from 270 to 330 K. Figure I shows a model of the TIRS sensor unit with the major elements identified. TIRS DESIGN OVERVIEWIn a pushbroom instrument, an n row by m column 2..D image of a scene is built-up by concatenating; n successive single rove measurements each containin g m pixels. For TIRS on LDCNI, with its 185 knt swath wilh and 100 meter ground sample distance, a single row consists of 1850 pixels (m-1850). Because the orbital motion of the LDC1.1 spacecraft is about 7 kirtrsec it takes approximatel y 0.01 4 second to move the row by 100 meters, and 70 rows of...