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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Goddard Space Flight Center



Astrophysics Science Division | Sciences and Exploration

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XRS-2 PhotosFinal I&T →Ready for Travel

ASTRO-E on its side (70K JPEG)

This is the business end of ASTRO-E. Like the man whose sailboat was too big to get out of his basement door, we have to tip the spacecraft on its side to get it out of the clean room and into the vibration facility. It will also travel to the launch site in this position.

You can see the XRS mirror assembly (the one on the left, sticking out a bit compared to the others) and the 4 XIS mirrors. Even though they are mirrors, they work more like lenses, focusing X-rays onto the detectors at the far end of the spacecraft. They look shiny because they have thermal shields on top of them, but X-rays pass right through into the mirrors. The black assembly is a sun shade.


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