Collaboration Across Cultures Global Astronomy: Collaboration Across Cultures

NASA and Japan Join Together for X-ray Astronomy: ASCA

ASCA Satellite in the clean room
The ASCA satellite in the clean room.

Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) next X-ray telescope satellite, Astro-D (renamed ASCA when it launched), called for using focusing X-ray optics. The high energy of X-rays (small wavelength), makes focusing them quite a challenge. However, in the mid-1980s, while Astro-D was under development, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center had a team working to develop techniques to build mirrors to focus X-rays in a telescope using thin light-weight mirrors.

One member of the Goddard team, Peter Serlemitsos, had previously collaborated closely with members of Nagoya University. This connection and the promising technology Serlemitsos had been developing to focus X-rays led to a collaboration on the X-ray mirrors for Astro-D between NASA and ISAS. This was the first collaboration between NASA and ISAS in X-ray astronomy; however, there was a previous collaboration between them on a satellite mission to study the Sun, called YOHKOH.

In addition to collaborating on the mirrors, ISAS and NASA also coordinated the development of software for satellite operation, data processing and analyses.

ASCA was launched in February 1993 where it observed cosmic X-ray sources until July 2000 when the satellite lost attitude control after a geomagnetic storm. The satellite reentered the Earth's atmosphere in March 2001.


Collaboration History

Collaboration allows astronomers and engineers to pool resources and expertise to advance our understanding of the Universe. NASA and ISAS have worked together for the past three decades on X-ray astronomy.

Astro-H

Astro-H is the latest satellite in the collaboration between NASA and ISAS. It is currently targeted to launch in 2015, and the project scientists and engineers are working hard to make this satellite a reality.

Suzaku

Suzaku has been actively taking data since its launch in 2005. It is a re-flight of the failed Astro-E satellite – showing that the collaboration can survive both success and failure.

ASCA

ASCA was launched in 1993 and made over 3000 observations of the X-ray sky in its 8 years of operations.

Ginga

Ginga was the first X-ray astronomy collaboration between agencies in the U.S. and ISAS, which forged the way for future collaborations with NASA. It operated from 1987 until 1991.