The Neutron star Interior Composition ExploreR Mission
The Neutron star Interior Composition ExploreR (NICER) is a proposed
NASA Explorer Mission of Opportunity dedicated to the study of the
extraordinary gravitational, electromagnetic, and nuclear-physics
environments embodied by neutron stars. NICER will explore the
exotic states of matter inside these stars, where density and
pressure are higher than in atomic nuclei, confronting theory with
unique observational constraints. NICER will enable
rotation-resolved spectroscopy of the thermal and non-thermal
emissions of neutron stars in the soft (0.2-12 keV) X-ray band with
unprecedented sensitivity, probing interior structure, the origins
of dynamic phenomena, and the mechanisms that underlie the most
powerful cosmic particle accelerators known. NICER achieves these
goals by deploying, following launch in late 2016, an X-ray timing
and spectroscopy instrument as an attached payload aboard the
International Space Station (ISS). Grazing-incidence optics coupled
with silicon drift detectors, actively pointed for a full hemisphere
of sky coverage, will provide photon-counting spectroscopy and
timing registered to GPS time and position, with high throughput and
relatively low background.
In addition to advancing a vital multi-wavelength approach to
neutron star studies through coordination with radio and γ-ray observations, NICER will provide a rapid-response capability for
targeting of transients, continuity in X-ray timing astrophysics
investigations post-RXTE through a proposed Guest Observer program,
and new discovery space in soft X-ray timing science.
Simulated NICER countrates and spectra can be derived using the
WebPIMMS and WebSPEC tools.
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