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Using the ISS as a multitool laboratory

NICER has helped pioneer new ISS payload integration modes and on-orbit servicing.

Orbiting High-energy Monitor Alert Network

Orbiting High-energy Monitor Alert Network (OHMAN) connects NICER and JAXA's MAXI wide-field X-ray detector on ISS, even though the payloads were not originally designed to work together. A crew-managed laptop connects the two experiments across international-partner ISS segments. Ground-configurable software automatically monitors live MAXI data, identifies transients, computes NICER target visibility, and commands rapid follow-up with no ground intervention.

OHMAN combines:

  • Wide-field trigger finding from MAXI,
  • Narrow-field sensitive follow-up from NICER, and
  • Rapid response for transient source localization and follow-up observations.

OHMAN became operational in summer 2022.

OHMAN connects NICER and MAXI across the ISS truss
A laptop computer inside the ISS uses real-time MAXI data to discover
transients and command NICER to observe, even though the two payloads
were not designed for this kind of coordination.

Example: Rapid Followup of a Gamma-Ray Burst

An example of the advantage of this close and rapid coordination came in October of 2022, when MAXI detected emission from the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) that occurred shortly before the target came into MAXI's field of view. Software on the crew laptop calculated NICER visibility for the new source, and interrupted the planned science observations at the time of NICER's first visibility window.

OHMAN triggered NICER observations of GRB221009A
NICER observations of GRB221009A observation triggered by OHMAN, illustrating its rapid response capability.

NICER's large collecting area enabled sensitive studies of the afterglow decay and detailed searches for spectral lines and periodicities.


Servicing and operational agility

NICER experienced the first-ever crew Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) servicing of an X-ray telescope. Following a low-velocity debris hit in May 2023, the NICER team rapidly designed and delivered a patch kit suitable for astronaut use. Over roughtly one year, the team designed and constructed the NICER patch kit, trained astronauts with mockups at the Johnson Space Center Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, and supported the servicing EVA in real-time from both JSC and Goddard Space Flight Center.

Astronaut Nick Hague takes a selfie after completing the NICER repair. The NICER XRT is visible reflected in Hague's helmet. (Image Credit: NASA)
Astronaut Nick Hague takes a selfie after completing the NICER servicing EVA. The patched NICER X-ray telescope is visible reflected in Hague's helmet. (Image Credit: NASA)

Together, these examples reinforce the station as a platform for both science operations and operational technology pathfinding.