FEA Lid With CTS Filter

The small rectacgular lid is plated in gold, and shines brightly. The central circular portion looks somewhat more silvery, though it's hard to see the color difference due to the great artiness of the photo. (60K JPEG)

Looking up at the inside of the Front-End Assembly lid, with the coldest of the five blocking filters in place. The filter is the circular bit in the middle, with some wrinkles in it. It's a very thin bit of polyimide plastic, coated with a similarly thin layer of aluminum, to let X-rays through but block visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light. The funny angled holes above and below the center are for inserting the calibration source. This is a small piece of radioactive material that emits X-rays of a particular energy, which are detected by a special pixel. Only the upper of the two openings is used for the calibration source. This lid is about 3 x 5 cm.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Goddard Space Flight Center