TRW-built Chandra X-ray Observatory Delivers First Detailed X-ray Images; Successful Start of Science Operations Caps a Decade of Commitment to Mission Success.

REDONDO BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 26, 1999--

Capping a month-long launch, deployment and activation process -- and underpinned by more than a decade of NASA and TRW commitment to mission success -- the TRW-built Chandra X-ray Observatory, NASA's newest and most powerful X-ray telescope, has successfully produced its first X-ray images.

Chandra's very first image, an enhanced view of the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant, was produced using a 5,000 second exposure of the observatory's Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS). It shows in never-before-seen detail, the stellar shock waves associated with the explosion of a star. It may also give X-ray astronomers their first glimpse of a neutron star or black hole remnant of the explosion thought to have produced the Cas A remnant.

A second image, also produced with the ACIS, shows PKS 0637-752, a quasar that radiates the power of 10 trillion suns from a region smaller than our solar system. The source of this prodigious energy is thought to be a super massive black hole. Chandra's X-ray image of the PKS 0637-752 quasar also reveals an extended radio jet that stretches across several hundred thousand light years.

The Chandra images were unveiled today at a news conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by NASA and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO). SAO operates the Chandra observatory and conducts the Chandra science mission for NASA.

"Words cannot adequately describe the overwhelming pride and satisfaction that we feel today for the men and women of the TRW-led Chandra contractor team that designed and built this magnificent spacecraft for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center," said Tim Hannemann, executive vice president and general manager, TRW Space & Electronics Group, NASA's Chandra prime contractor.

"It is gratifying to know that the extraordinary Chandra images we see today are a direct result of the tireless efforts by our team to ensure the quality, precision and reliability of the observatory. We take great pride in knowing that our work is making a fundamental difference in the history of X-ray astronomy."

Chandra is the third in NASA's family of Great Observatories that includes the Hubble Space Telescope and the TRW-built Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Over the next five years, it will use the world's most powerful X-ray telescope to probe the mysteries of a universe that cannot be seen by the human eye or conventional optical telescopes.

Its array of exquisitely polished and aligned mirrors will allow X-ray astronomers to produce previously unattainable images of celestial phenomena such as quasars, black holes, remnants of exploding stars and clouds of multimillion-degree gas that comprise clusters of galaxies.

Chandra was launched from Kennedy Space Center aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia at 12:31 a.m. EDT on July 23. After deployment from the Space Shuttle, it was boosted into an elliptical "transfer" orbit by an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS). From there, the observatory used five "burns" of its TRW-developed Integral Propulsion System to insert itself, over the course of about two weeks, into its final operational orbit, which measures approximately 6,000 miles by 86,500 miles. Chandra now orbits the Earth once every 63.5 hours, or about once every two and a half days.

On Aug. 12, the flight operations team at the Chandra Operations Control Center (OCC), Cambridge, Mass., successfully commanded the observatory to open its sun shade door, which allowed X-rays to reach Chandra's telescope mirrors for the first time. After an initial calibration and focusing of the telescope, the team used the telescope to gather Chandra's first significant X-ray images.

Although Chandra has now achieved operational status, TRW retains a critical role in the day-to-day operation of the observatory. As a member of the SAO-led Chandra flight operations team, TRW leads and manages the spacecraft operations function. That job includes monitoring the overall health and status of the observatory, sending commands to and receiving telemetry from the observatory, and ensuring that Chandra's science data is flowing properly from the observatory to the OCC.

TRW's spacecraft control team is working closely with SAO's Chandra mission planners, who are responsible for developing and managing, in coordination with the international science community, the plan for using Chandra to observe X-ray sources in a time- and resource-efficient manner.

The TRW-led team that designed and built Chandra includes: the Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y., which designed and built the telescope; Raytheon Optical Systems Inc., Danbury, Conn., which ground and polished the mirrors for the telescope; and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo., which designed and built Chandra's aspect camera and science instrument module (SIM).

TRW has been designing and producing spacecraft for NASA's most challenging space science missions for more than 40 years. In addition to Chandra, the company is currently developing designs and technologies for several of NASA's future space astronomy missions, including the Space Interferometry Mission, the Next Generation Space Telescope, which are both part of NASA's Origins program, and Constellation-X, the successor mission to Chandra.

Based in Cleveland, TRW provides advanced technology products and services for the global automotive, aerospace and information systems markets. The company's 1998 sales totaled nearly $12 billion. TRW news releases are available on the corporate Web site: www.trw.com.

Note to Editors: Additional information about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and downloadable images of the first X-ray sources viewed by the observatory are available on the following Web sites: http://chandra.nasa.gov OR http://chandra.harvard.edu.