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Chandra X-Ray Observatory Celebrates 10th Anniversary On Orbit, Enabling Amazing
Advancements in X-Ray Astronomy

The Northrop Grumman-built NASA telescope has delivered groundbreaking data on supernovas, black holes, and the nature of dark matter.

Core News Facts

• On July 23, 2009, Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) and NASA will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which NASA launched on July 23, 1999.

• Chandra has logged over 60,000 hours of on-target observing time, with over 9,800 observations. More than 2,400 principal investigators and co-investigators work with Chandra data.

• An average of 92% of time available for Chandra's observations (outside of the radiation belts) is spent on-target.

• Chandra was named in honor of the Indian-American physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who won the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics by advancing human understanding of stars' life cycles. Chandra means "moon" or "luminous" in Sanskrit.

• In the last 10 years, Chandra has significantly expanded the frontiers of astronomy providing insight into the birth and death of stars and the lifecycles of galaxies. Data from Chandra gave scientists the first glimpse of a supernova remnant containing a black hole, detected a super-massive black hole in the center of the Milky Way, and saw the shadow of a small galaxy as it was consumed by a larger one. The Observatory also revolutionized current knowledge about dark energy, a mysterious force that is pushing galaxies apart and causing the universe to expand.

• The world's first truly sophisticated X-ray observatory, Chandra is equipped with two instruments capable of taking both highly detailed photographs and x-ray spectra images. Images generated by Chandra's instruments are ten times sharper than those from any X-ray telescope ever flown and Chandra can detect sources 20 times fainter than anything found by any other X-ray telescope.

• If the State of Colorado were as smooth as the surface of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Pike's Peak would be less than an inch tall.

• X-ray spectra enable astronomers to determine the chemical composition, temperature, and motion of astronomical objects, leading to a greater understanding of stellar coronae, the hot ionized plasmas in the outer atmospheres of most stars; the disks of gas and dust revolving around black holes; and the remains of exploded stars, called supernovae.

Quotes

• "We were astounded by these images. We see the collision of the debris from the exploded star with the matter around it, we see shock waves rushing into interstellar space at millions of miles per hour, and, as a real bonus, we see for the first time a tantalizing bright point near the center of the remnant that could possibly be a collapsed star associated with the outburst." -- Harvey Tananbaum, Director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X- ray Center, Cambridge, Mass.

• "Chandra has opened new chapter after new chapter in our exploration of the universe. It is an amazing machine for detecting black holes. It can detect objects 10 to 20 times the mass of our sun. It can also detect objects 12 billion light years away. That's almost 80 to 90 percent of the distance across the known universe." -- Harvey Tananbaum, Director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X- ray Center, Cambridge, Mass.

• "When I saw the first image, I knew that the dream had been realized. This observatory is ready to take its place in the history of spectacular scientific achievements." -- Dr. Martin Weisskopf, Chandra Project Scientist, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.

• "Chandra will help to confirm one of the most fascinating theories of modern science -- that we came from the stars. Its ability to make X-ray images of comparable quality to optical images will have an impact on virtually every area of astronomy."-- Professor Robert Kirshner of Harvard University.

Boilerplate information about Chandra

• The Chandra X-ray Observatory was proposed to NASA in 1976 by physicists Riccardo Giacconi and Harvey Tananbaum. Preliminary work began the next year at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO).

• Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems sector, (then TRW) was the telescope's prime contractor for NASA. The Northrop Grumman-led team included ITT Space Systems, Raytheon Optical Systems (now BF Goodrich) and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. The spacecraft was redesigned in 1992 to reduce costs, and Chandra's orbit was changed to an elliptical one, reaching one third of the way to the Moon at its farthest point.

• Launched in 1999 by the shuttle Columbia, the Observatory was the heaviest payload ever carried by the shuttle. It is operated by the SAO at the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Mass., with assistance from MIT and Northrop Grumman. Chandra was initially given an expected lifetime of five years, but in 2001, NASA extended its lifetime to 10 years based on the Observatory's outstanding results. The 5-ton, 45-foot tall Chandra was the third of NASA's series of Great Observatories to become operational, joining the Hubble Space Telescope and the Northrop Grumman-built Compton Gamma Ray Observatory on orbit.

• Chandra's highly elliptical orbit allows it to observe continuously for up to 55 hours of its 65-hour orbital period. The Science Instrument Module holds two high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy instruments: the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer and the High Resolution Camera. Compared to all other earth-orbiting satellites, Chandra is one of the farthest from earth, 6,200 miles at its closest point and 86,900 at its farthest point. The orbit takes it beyond geostationary satellites and the outer Van Allen belt.

• Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.