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NICER Science Results

NICER Publications and Other Notable Items


Recent Science from NICER on the ISS

Patching up NICER

The NICER team supported the 91st U.S. EVA on January 16, which included a task to mitigate damage sustained by NICER in May 2023. Crew member Nick Hague installed nine patches to cover punctured optical filters that allowed sunlight to enter NICER's science instrument during orbit day, interfering with its ability to detect cosmic X-rays. Detailed evaluation of the effectiveness of the patches continues.

On behalf of the worldwide community of scientists who depend on the payload's data, the NICER team wishes to express our deep gratitude to the entire ISS program -- especially the EVA and Research Integration teams at JSC as well as the POIC at MSFC -- for their tremendous support in the development of hardware, procedures, and the execution of the repair.


Screenshot (from video) of the front face of NICER's X-ray Timing Instrument, as seen by the helmet camera of crew-member Nick Hague. Multiple wedge-shaped patches recently inserted within some of the XTI's circular sunshades are visible.

Screenshot (from video) of the front face of NICER's X-ray Timing Instrument, as seen by the helmet camera of crew-member Nick Hague. Nine wedge-shaped patches recently inserted within some of the XTI's circular sunshades are visible.



Latest News

  • Patching NICER (17 Jan 2025)
    During EVA 91 on January 16, 2025, ISS Astronaut Nick Hague successfully installed 9 patches into 8 of the NICER XTI sunshades to mitigate light leaks from damaged portions of the optical blocking filters. You can watch a recording of of the NICER portion of the spacewalk activity from Nick Hague's helmet-camera.
  • NICER AO7 Selected Proposals and Targets (11 Jan 2025)
    proposal selection process for Cycle 7 of the General Observer program is complete, and the lists of selected proposals and approved targets are available
  • EVA to repair NICER Scheduled for January 16 (10 Jan 2025)
    Astronauts onboard the ISS will perform an EVA planned for January 16 during which the light leak in NICER's X-ray Timing Instrument will be repaired by applying patches to NICER's sunshades above damaged areas of the thermal films. These patches will reduce optical light and allow NICER's X-ray detectors to perform as intended during orbit day. The repair is scheduled to begin around 9:40am EST, and last about an hour. Please see the description of the EVA on NASA's science website for more details.
  • Joint NICER/IXPE Analysis Workshop (01 May 2024)
    The 2024 Joint NICER/IXPE Workshop will be held at The George Washington University in Washington D.C from Monday, 29th of July, 2024 to Thursday, 1st of August, 2024. Registration is free for both in-person and remote attendees
  • Update to Enhanced Visibility Calculator (09 Feb 2024)
    The NICER enhanced visibility calculator, which provides detailed target visibility information taking into account blockages by ISS structures and other constraints, has been updated. This update allows calculation of target visibilities using orbit day target/sun angles greater than 90 degrees, appropriate for targets observed during ISS orbit day in the presence of the XTI light leak. The update also allows the user to calculate visibilities for observations restricted to orbit night or orbit day.

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