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Overall Specifications | Spacecraft System | Telescope System | Science Instruments | Science Instrument Module
Chandra Technical Specifications
Overall Specifications
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Size | 45.3 feet long x 64.0 feet wingspan (fully deployed) |
Weight | 10,160 pounds |
Orbital Data |
Inclination: 28.5 degrees Perigee altitude: 10,000 kilometers ApogeApogee altitude: 140,000 kilometers Ascending node: 200 degrees Argument of perigee: 270 degrees |
On-orbit life | > 5 years |
Spacecraft System |
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Electrical Power |
Two 3-panel, silicon solar arrays provide 2350 watts of
power (End of Life) Three 40 ampere-hour nickel hydrogen batteries supply power in eclipse |
Antennas | Two low-gain, conical log sprial antennas provide spherical coverage |
Frequencies |
Transmit 2250 megahertz (MHz) Receive 2071.8 MHz |
Command Link | 2 kilobits persecond (kbps) |
Data Recording | Solid-state recorder; 1.8 gigabits (16.8 hours) of recording capacity |
Downlink Options |
Selectable rates from 32 to 1024 kbps Downlink data includes pre-recorded engineering and science instrument data interleaved with real-time data |
Downlink Operations | Data downloaded to Earth typically every 8 hours |
Contingency Mode | 32kbps |
Safing |
Autonomous operation No ground intervention required to safe against any single fault |
Telescope System
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High Resolution Mirror Assembly |
4 sets of nested, grazing incidence
parabaloid/hyperboloid mirror pairs Mirrors are each 83.3 cm long, constructed of zerodur material, polished to better than 7 angstroms root-mean-square (RMS) micro rougness, covered with 600 angstrom iridium coating Set of mirrors weighs 2104 pounds Focal Length: 10 meters Outer diameter: 1.2 meters Field of view: 1.0 degree diameter Unobscured clear aperture > 1136 sq. cm |
Altitude Control |
6 reaction wheel control 2 inertial reference units, each with two (2) two-degrees of freedom dry-tuned gyros updated autonomously with aspect camera data |
Aspect Camera | 1.40o x 1.40o field of view |
Pointing Stability | 0.25 arcsec (RMS) radius over 95% of all 10 second periods |
Pointing Accuracy | 30 arcsec 99% of viewing time |
Science Instruments
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Advanced Charged Coupled Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) |
Provides simultaneous time-resolved imaging and
spectroscopy Uses two CCD arrays, one for imaging, one for spectroscopy Imaging resolution is 0.5 arcsec over spectral range of 0.2 to 10 keV |
High Resolution Camera (HRC) |
Uses large field-of-view imaging micro-channel plates
to detect X-ray photons Provides highest spatial resolution of any instruments on Chandra satellite Angular resolution <0.5 arcsec over the field of view 31 x 31 arcmin over the spectral range of 0.1 to 10 keV |
High Energy Transmission Grating |
Designed to be inserted into focused X-ray beam Contains 336 diffraction gratings Provides spectral resolution (E/E) of 60-1000 over the energy range 0.4 to 10 keV |
Low Energy Transmission Grating |
Designed to be inserted into focused X-ray beam Provides spectral resolution (E/E) of 40-2000 over the energy range 0.09 to 3 keV |
Science Instrument Module
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Information provided by NGST, the prime contractor for Chandra |
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