(NASA-TM-lO8618) EXTREME N93-18992

ULTRAVIOLET EXPLORER. LONG LOOK AT

THE NEXT WINDOW (NASA) 26 p
Unclas

G3/90 0131697

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 "5

"'Produce ships and sails that can be used In

the celestial atmosphere. Then you will also
find men to man them, men not atraid ot
the vast emptiness of space. '_

Johannes Kepler
RJ HAL COl Teli Table of Contents

Unexplored Window 3
Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer 3

Unique Spacecraft 3
Advanced Technology 4

Cosmic Survey 4
Astronomical Windows 4

New Secrets 5

Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation 6

Roadblocks to Extreme Ultraviolet Astronomy 7

Accepted Knowledge 7

Technological Limitations 7
Geocoronal Interference 7

Extreme Ultraviolet Astronomy Becomes Possible 8

Thin Bubble 8

Apollo-Soyuz 9
White Dwarfs 9

Exploring Space: Rockets, Explorers, and Observatories 10

Scorpius X- I 10
Uhuru 10

Opening the Extreme Ultraviolet I I

The EUVE Mission 12

Orbital Checkout 12

All-Sky Survey 12

Deep Survey 12

Survey Phase 13

Spectroscopy Phase 13
Better Than Voyager 13
Retrieval 13

The EUVE Instruments 14

Smooth Mirrors 14

Spectrometer 15
Sir Isaac Newton 15

Cutting Edge 15

The Explorer Platform 16

Solar Arrays 16
Toaster Oven 16

10-Year Lifetime 17

Command and Control 17

Tracking Satellite 17
Newton's Law 17

What Will EUVE Find? 18

Mapping Galactic Gas 18

Not Ordinary 18
White Dwar£s 19

Neutron Stars 19

Red DwarLs 20

B Stars 21

Dwarf Novae 21

Io Torus 22

Quasars 2:2
EUVE Mission Management 24
EUVE Team 25
 Unexplored Windows

A NASA satellite designed to scan the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer and other sources of EUV radiation,
heavens in one of the last largely unex- EUVE will map the entire sky to maybe even quasars.
plored windows of the electromagnetic determine the existence, direction, bright- EUV radiation, a principal emission of
spectrum will be launched from Cape ness, and temperature of thousands of many types of celestial objects, is wholly
Canaveral, Florida in 1991. The Extreme objects that are sources of so-called blocked by the Earth's atmosphere.
Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) will be a extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation. The Until recently, it was believed to be
vital element in astronomers" efforts to EUV spectral region is located between blocked by the interstellar gas of our
understand the universe by discovering the x-ray and ultraviolet regions of the Milky Way galaxy as well. As such, it
what objects are present, and how they electromagnetic spectrum. From the sky was sometimes known as "'the
form, change, and die. Scientists want survey by EUVE, astronomers will deter- unobservable ultraviolet."
to learn what natural processes are at mine the nature of sources of EUV light Unique Spacecraft
work in the alien environment of space, in our galaxy, and infer the distribution The EUVE will be a spacecraft of a
where the everyday physical conditions of interstellar gas for hundreds of light new type. Its scientific instruments will
are often so unlike those on Earth that years around the solar system. It is from be mounted in a single module on an
they cannot be duplicated usefully in this gas and the accompanying dust in orbiting platform, or spacecraft "bus,"
the laboratory. space that new stars and solar systems like containerized cargo that is easily
are born and to which evolving and transferred from an ocean freighter to a
dying stars return much of their railway flatcar. The platform will provide
material in an endless cosmic cycle of electrical power, communications,
birth, death, and rebirth. Besides
mechanical support and pointing
surveying the sky, astronomers will control for the EUVE module. Although
make detailed studies of selected
EUVE will be launched on an
objects with EUVE to determine their expendable rocket, a new module,
physical properties and chemical containing new scientific instruments,
compositions. Also, they will learn will be transported to it by the Space
about the conditions that prevail and Shuttle once the EUVE mission is
the processes at work in stars, planets, completed. The new module will be

PRECEDING PAGE BL_NK NO) I'ILMLD

Three examples of interstellar gas and dust.

LEFT: The North American Nebula in
Cygn us
TOP: Ring Nebula in Lyra
ABOVE: Orion's Horsehead Nebula

RIGHT: Artist conception of the EUVE

spacecraft in orbit
 swapped fortheEUVE unitbythe groundcontrolcenters. Goddard also followed by a spectroscopy phase of at
crew,usingtheShuttle's Remote pioneered thedevelopment and least one year.
Manipulator System. Thisdesign allows operation ofthefirstreusable In the spectroscopy phase, individual
reuseofunmanned spacecraft
justas unmanned spacecraft designed specifically targets, whether discovered in the all-sky
theShuttle allowsreuse ofa manned forrecovery andservicing in space. and deep-sky surveys or identified from
vehicle.Thisconcept alsoallowsfor Advanced Technology other information, will be analyzed in
readyservicing inspace, shouldspace- EUVE will carry a full complement of detail through individual observations
craftsubsystems or instrumentsdegrade. telescopes, detectors, and a spec- made with an on-board EUV spectrometer.
Todevelop theEUVE, NASAenlisted trometer. The equipment incorporates Typically, a spectrometer observation
theUniversity of CaliforniaatBerkeley advanced technology from the United will last from one to several days. The
andtheNASA/Goddard Space Flight States and Japan. The EUVE instrumen- EUVE surveys will be conducted by the
Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The tation will be mounted in a Payload Berkeley astronomers, while the spectro-
Berkeley astronomers andphysicists, Module on NASA's new reusable Explorer scopic studies will be performed by
ledbyProfessor StuartBowyer, have Platform, designed and managed by the Guest Observers who may be associated
pioneered theexploration ofspace in Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
with scientific or educational
theextreme ultraviolet
withinvesti- and built by the Fairchild Space institutions. NASA Headquarters, in
gationsbysounding rocketsand Company. The Payload Module was Washington, D.C., will select these
manned spacecraft.AlsoBerkeley has designed, built and tested at GSFC. Guest Observers from throughout the
developed thenecessary technology United States and around the world, on
Cosmic Survey
andinstruments forEUVastronomy, The scientific mission of EUVE will
the basis of scientific merit.
andpioneered thescientific When the extreme ultraviolet astronomy
consist of a six-month all-sky survey, in
interpretationoftheresults ofsuch research is complete, a Space Shuttle
which the heavens are mapped in four
experiments. Goddard hasa proud will dock with the EUVE so that the
channels of the extreme ultraviolet
historyasthedeveloper of unmanned Shuttle crew can bring it onboard with
Explorer-classandobservatory-class spectrum while a narrow band in the the Remote Manipulator System (robot
sky is mapped at even greater sensitivity
satellites,
a world-wide tracking/ arm). The extreme ultraviolet astronomy
communications network, andassociated in a deep-sky survey. This will be payload will be replaced with the
payload for a new scientific investi-
gation, the X-ray Timing Explorer (XTE).
Astronomical Windows
The EUVE studies come as a logical
complement to past Explorers that have
scanned space in the infrared,
ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma-ray
regions. As each of these so-called
"windows" of the universe has been
opened to detailed study by Explorer-
class instruments, wholly unexpected
objects and phenomena have been
discovered, and unusual physical

Milky Way Galaxy as a satellite streaks in

front of it

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processes have been found to be at with a single kind of microscope, one member is almost surely a black
work. Astronomers learned that they chemical tool, or analytical procedure. hole. A black hole is a condensed dead

can no more study our galaxy--or a Just as each kind of biochemical star whose gravity is so powerful that
single star--in proper depth with one technique involves different types of even light cannot escape it.
kind of telescope operating in a single laboratory apparatus or a different set The International Ultraviolet Explorer
spectral region, than biomedical of chemical reagents, each form of (IUE), operated jointly by NASA, the
researchers can study the human body electromagnetic radiation or light European Space Agency and the United
requires distinct types of telescopes, Kingdom Science and Engineering
Final inflation stage of balloon carrying Research Council, found a hot corona
associated instruments, and sensors for
scientific instruments at sunrise near
Palestine, Texas. its study. surrounding our Milky Way galaxy. IUE
also discovered a glowing shell of gas
New Secrets
caused by the collision of high- and
Each new window brings unexpected
marvels into the astronomers' view. low-speed winds emitted by a star that
later exploded as a supernova, and a
Mapping the sky in infrared light, the
Infrared Astronomical Satellite, a joint previously undetected form of sulfur in
a comet that made a close swing past
United States-United Kingdom--
the Earth.
Netherlands spacecraft, discovered
Telescopes sensitive to gamma rays
what may be planetary systems in
aboard balloons, rockets, and the Solar
formation, circling stars beyond the
Maximum Mission satellite detected a
Sun, and the eerie glow of dust trails of
spectral emission from the central
long-vanished comets that once orbited
region of the Milky Way that is caused
in our solar system.
Einstein, as the High Energy by the mutual annihilation of matter
and antimatter. The message is clear:
Astrophysics Observatory-3 satellite was
open a new window on space and we
popularly known, found and
are sure to find as-yet-unknown secrets
investigated binary stars in the Milky
of the universe.
Way and a neighbor galaxy in which

VISIBLE
LIGHT

- I
RADIO
GAMMA RAYS X - RAYS EXTREME
ULTRAVIOLET

Angstroms 0.1_, 100_, 912_ 3,200_ 7,000,g, 10.000.000_ (1 millimeter)

Electron volts 121,720ev 121.8ev 13.6ev 3.8ev 1.7ev .001ev
Interstellar
cut-off

Artist's conception ot the electromagnetic spectrum

(50LC>i': ;':",-_'--'i _,,,',PH

 Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation

EUV radiation is defined as the range

of the electromagnetic spectrum that
lies at shorter wavelengths (higher
energies) than ordinary ultraviolet light
and at longer wavelengths (lower
energies) than x-rays. As such, it
consists of light with wavelengths
between about 100 Angstroms and
1000 Angstroms. (One Angstrom, a unit of
length named for the Swedish physicist
Anders Angstrom, equals one one-
hundred-millionth of a centimeter, or
about four billionths of an inch.)

Both ordinary ultraviolet light and

x-rays also are blocked by the
atmosphere. They are known to reach
the Earth's vicinity from very great
distances in space, and have been
extensively studied by satellite
observatories above the atmosphere,
developed by the United States and
other technologically-advanced nations.
For example, ultraviolet radiation from
stars, nebulae and galaxies was studied
by NASA's Orbiting Astronomical
Observatories and by the Astronomy
Netherlands Satellite, and is under
investigation by the International
Ultraviolet Explorer. Sagittarius star cloud in the direction of the center o/the Milky Way
X-rays from stars and galaxies have
been explored by the High Energy
Astrophysics Observatories, the Small
Astronomy Satellite "Uhuru," and by
such foreign craft as ESA's EXOSAT,
Japan's TENMA and GINGA, Germany's
ROSAT and the Soviet Union's MIR Space
Station. Yet, despite almost two decades
of work, exploration of space in the
extreme ultraviolet has been minimal.

COLC;.R ;:-;i-_Z)G RAPH

Naval Research Laboratory experiment aboard Apollo 16 pro_.ided

this image of our geocorona

ORIGINAL F'/-',GZ
8LACK AND WHITE r'HQTOGRAPN
 Roadblocks to Extreme Ultraviolet Astronomy

The study of the universe in the primary mirror is positioned roughly around our planet, consisting of the
extreme ultraviolet, still in its infancy like the inner surface of the gun barrel, geocoronal helium ions glowing in the

despite space experiments flown since or like the inner surface of a cone extreme ultraviolet light of the Sun.
1971, has been hampered by three opening toward the incoming light. Other constituents of the geocorona

factors that astronomers can now Even if appropriate grazing incidence also scatter solar radiation. Located

surmount with the EUVE: accepted telescope mirrors are used, problems above the Earth, but below or within

"knowledge," geocoronal interference, remain. When the extreme ultraviolet the geocorona, satellite telescopes are
and technological limitations. light strikes the carefully shaped severely hampered by this geocoronal
telescope mirrors at angles of a few glow when they operate in the extreme
Accepted Knowledge
degrees to their surfaces, the slightest ultraviolet. At some wavelengths, the
Conventional wisdom on our Milky
local irregularity interferes with the glow may be thousands of times
Way galaxy was painstakingly developed
skipping light rays, scattering them in brighter than a celestial target of
through extensive observations with
wrong directions like golf balls that hit interest when viewed with a given
radio and optical telescopes on the
slight irregularities on the green and extreme ultraviolet telescope. There
ground during the 1950s. These
veer away from the cup. Accordingly, appear to be only two ways to
observations suggested that the disk of
the mirror surfaces must be made with minimize this interference: locate the
our spiral-shaped galaxy is pervaded by
exceptional smoothness, even by the telescope outside the geocorona or
an interstellar medium of hydrogen,
demanding standards of the optician. operate it in a highly selective manner.
helium, and less abundant gases. Both
There are other technological Positioning a spacecraft such as EUVE
hydrogen and helium absorb extreme
limitation as well. When EUV outside the geocorona would make it
ultraviolet light. Calculations indicated
astronomy began in the 1960s, the impossible to service it with the Space
that the hydrogen alone was enough to
available detectors--the devices that Shuttle in the event of malfunction, and
cut off the extreme ultraviolet light from
actually sense the EUV radiation impossible to revisit it with the Shuttle
almost any known object beyond our
collected by a telescope--were to replace the payload at the end of its
own solar system, which is located in
relatively insensitive. Also, there were intended operating life. Therefore,
the galactic disk. As early as 1959,
no diffraction gratings--optical EUVE will be operated in low-Earth
experts asserted that it would be
components that spread light into a orbit, below the geocorona, but
impossible to observe objects much
spectrum--that were well-suited to use generally will make observations at
beyond the limits of the solar system in
in the EUV. The EUV represented such night, when the geocorona causes the
the extreme ultraviolet. It was not until
a new departure for astronomers' least interference.
1975 that a crucial experiment in
studies that there was no national A remaining source of natural
space, carried out by Professor Bowyer
standard for calibrating laboratory interference, called the very local
and his associates on the Apollo-Soyuz
measurements of the intensity of EUV interstellar medium, hampers EUV
mission, disproved this view.
light. observations and cannot be overcome
Technological Limitations with current technology. The very local
Geocoronal Interference
Extreme ultraviolet light cannot be interstellar medium consists of
At the outer limits of the Earth's
collected and focused usefully with electrically neutral atoms of interstellar
atmosphere, far above almost all
telescopes of conventional design; if gas that sweep through the solar system
orbiting satellites, the ambient gases are
ordinary optical telescopes were used, as the Sun and the planets move
so thin that a gas atom can orbit all the
most of the individual photons of through the Milky Way. Helium atoms
way around the Earth without striking
extreme ultraviolet light would be in this medium scatter EUV radiation
another atom. Under such conditions,
absorbed in the coated surfaces of the from helium in the Sun, producing a
the gases in this region readily escape
mirrors or scattered in directions away dim, interfering glow that EUV
the Earth's gravity. They make up the
from the optical axis. astronomers cannot avoid.
The extreme ultraviolet can be geocoronoa, a huge region that thins
out into interplanetary space.
observed usefully only with telescope
In the geocorona there are also
mirrors designed for operation in
helium ions, atoms of helium that have
grazing incidence mode, in which the
each lost one electron. These ions are
incoming light strikes a mirror at a very
prevented from escaping into space by
small angle to its surface like a stone
the Earth's magnetic field. The helium
skipping off the sea. Thus, in an
ions scatter, that is, reflect in all
extreme ultraviolet telescope, the
directions, EUV light emitted by similar
primary or light-collecting mirror does
helium ions in the Sun.
not face directly toward the target like
As a result, if space travelers on the
the mirror in a conventional telescope
Moon or Mars were to look down on
or a searchlight.
the Earth with eyes somehow sensitive
Instead, while the EUV telescope
to extreme ultraviolet radiation, they
points at the target like a gun, its
would see a huge luminous zone
 Extreme Ultraviolet Astronomy Becomes Possible
Recent advances in space astronomy
and in technology make it possible for
the EUVE mission to explore space in a
wavelength window previously called
the "unobservable ultraviolet." The
interstellar gas of the Milky Way was
once thought to be a smoothly
distributed, absorbing fog that
thoroughly blocks extreme ultraviolet
light. On further inspection, it was
revealed to be a complex array of
dense clouds embedded in a thinner
and hotter gas, honeycombed by very
thin regions shaped like bubbles and
tunnels, like an ant's nest or a rabbit
warren beneath the seemingly solid
ground.
Detectors, diffraction gratings,
mirrors, filters, and calibration methods ABOVE: Ameri(an Apo/lo spa_ ecrafl
photographed by So_iet cosmonauts in joint
have been developed and optimized for US/USSR Apollo-Soyuz program
use in the EUVE. Detectors, the crucial
components that sense the radiation LEFT."Artist's conception of the Copernicus
astronomical observatory
collected by the telescopes, provide a
good example. With a telescope of a
given size, a more sensitive detector sounding rockets, and interplanetary
allows the astronomer to discover and
probes have detected about a dozen
measure fainter sources. At first, the
EUV-emitting stars in the Milk Way.
detectors available for sensing EUV They have revealed also that there are
radiation were not very sensitive. lines of sight along which we can see
to distances of many light years from
the Earth (one light year equals about
5.9 trillion miles, or 9.5 trillion
The Berkeley scientists developed so- kilometers).
called photon counting detectors for
Further, from studies by NASA's
the EUV, work recognized by the
Copernicus satellite (Orbiting
award of patents and the publication of
Astronomical Observatory-3) and the
many technical papers. At first, the
IUE, it appears that our solar system,
detectors were simple photometers that
including the Earth, is located in one of
registered only the intensity of EUV
the thin bubbles of interstellar gas, an
radiation, but now high-resolution
ideal location from which to explore to
imaging detectors can sense the
significant distances in the extreme
position of each incoming photon of
ultraviolet. As a result of these findings
EUV light within the field of view. They
it appears that the EUVE, rather than
can record also the exact moment at
being blocked from observing beyond
which the photon was received. Like
the solar system by the interstellar gas,
the improvements in the other
will be able to survey objects in our
technology areas, the improved EUV
galaxy out to a distance of about 300
detectors may prove beneficial in
applications outside astronomy.
Thin Bubble
Experimental EUV telescopes flown
on manned spacecraft, unmanned

LEFT: Schematic of EUVE detector

RIGHT: One of the EUVE flight detectors

COLOR ,',_'-_ :'_':.: .....

lightyearsin manydirections.
EUVE light that it was recognized when raw
willviewtoevengreater distances
ina data telemetered from Apollo were
limitednumber ofdirections,
perhaps traced on a chart recorder at the NASA
including
a fewlinesof sightextending Johnson Space Center in Houston,
whollyoutofourgalaxy. Texas.

Apollo-Soyuz White Dwarfs

Evidence that EUV astronomy is The 1975 discovery of intense
feasible came during the 1975 Apollo- extreme ultraviolet radiation from HZ

Soyuz Test Project, a manned mission 43 was a triple milestone in

with on-orbit rendezvous and docking astrophysics. It established the feasibility
of space capsules from the United of exploring the galaxy through the
States and the Soviet Union (the extreme ultraviolet window. It identified
Apollo-Soyuz work followed a series of HZ 43 as the hottest and most
inconclusive EUV astronomy luminous white dwarf star then known.
experiments by sounding rockets). It proved also that white dwarf stars,
After the joint activities of the although dim as seen in ordinary visible
astronauts and cosmonauts were light, may be beacons in the heavens
concluded and the Soviet Soyuz-19 when viewed through the extreme
capsule separated from Apollo, the ultraviolet.
NASA crew repeatedly oriented their White dwarf stars are the final
command and service module to point evolutionary stage of stars such as our
a 14-Y2-inch EUV telescope designed at Sun. They burn hydrogen by nuclear
Berkeley at 30 preselected celestial reaction for billions of year, then blow
targets. Five of the targets were up into helium-burning red giants,
detected, including one, the unusual throw off their outer layers and
hot star HZ 43 in the constellation eventually become hot, dense
Coma Berenices. HZ 43 was such a objects--the white dwarfs--that cool
strong source of extreme ultraviolet and fade thereafter throughout eternity.

Frr;m a r(,ndez_;us _in(]o_., ,in American

a_tronaut snapped this photo ot the So_iet
Soyuz spacecrat_
 r o

Unusually hot star HZ 43 detected by

telescope aboard
Apo/Io/Soyuz spacecraft

[--'8_ "Z--' -- --

"l'.
I
t
I \"

Through three decades of the space Scorpius X- 1

4, .'--.. I
age, astronomers and space engineers Thus, the pioneering observations in
have developed a proven method for x-ray astronomy were made from
the exploration of space through new sounding rockets, with results that
windows in the electromagnetic included the discovery of the first "° [

spectrum. There are so many known x-ray source beyond the solar I
unknowns when a particular spectral I
system, the strange binary star, Scorpius
X-1. The results of these suborbital t
window on the universe is yet to be
[
explored, that it is difficult and even studies in x-ray astronomy showed
inappropriate to plan a major space scientists how to design appropriate
facility for that purpose. instruments for simple exploratory
Instead, simple experiments are first satellites.
conducted in which relatively crude Uhuru
and inexpensive measurements are
Explorer 42, better known as Small
made from low-cost platforms to learn
Astronomy Satellite-I, or Uhuru, was
"'What's out there?" and see what kind
able to catalog hundreds of x-ray
of equipment functions well in space. sources around the sky, and to record
important physical data on Scorpius X-I
10
and many of the others. From this and
even more sensitive observations by the
later Einstein satellite, astronomers
learned that the sky is furl of intense
sources of x-ray emission that blink on
and off, occasionally flare to great
intensity, and constantly change like
the flashing colored lights on a
Christmas tree.
The ultimate stage in exploring a
spectral window is to follow the surveys
made by Explorer satellites, once the
data have been carefufly studied, with a
powerful, highly instrumented spacecraft.
The future Advanced X-ray Astrophysics
Facility (AXAF) of the "'Great
Observatory" Class is one example.
 Opening the Extreme Ultraviolet

The initial explorations in EUV stars with shock-wave-heated winds,

• °
astronomy were conducted by exploding stars called dwarf novae, and
sounding rocket experiments and by others• These studies laid the
the experiment on the Apollo-Soyuz foundation for conducting an all-sky
Test Project• Astronomers at other survey in four EUV wavelength
United States institutions and in Europe channels with EUVE, for making a
also contributed to EUV astronomy. complementary survey in a portion of
Additionally, the Voyager 1 and 2 the EUV with the German-U.K.-U.S.
interplanetary space probes, which cooperative mission, ROSAT, and for
were sent to Jupiter and beyond, the deep survey of a limited sky region
carried spectrometers• Developed by by EUVE, along with EUV spectroscopy
the University of Southern California, on selected EUVE targets•
these probes are still obtaining valuable Once the observations of the EUVE
I. spectra in a portion of the EUV range are completed and analyzed, investigators
[ will determine whether the phenomena
for selected bright targets.
EUVE is likely to detect and study detected justify further study with an
l
classes of EUV targets such as white even more advanced observatory.
l
dwarf stars and flare stars, early type-B
i i,'
r

11

Voyager- 1 photo of Jupiter and two of its

satellites, Io (left) and Europa, above
Jupiter's Great Red Spot
 • ,.: _.,.s:,:::>;::::.Z:_. ;. 5•; ;,;•;¢ ;:;_;••:':';,s;_._::Z.. ¸. : •, ./-<-; f, •:'f'.r:_:;_:[':;: S'•: ;,_'.,• • , : _'r ¸" ¸¸ , r : . •:

•.................................. :.::_:._,_+/..:/,.,,_:,
...............
EUVE is scheduled for launch in Fall Deep Survey
1991 aboard a McDonnell Douglas Simultaneously with the all-sky
Delta I1 rocket from Launch Complex survey, a deep survey telescope will
17 at Cape Canaveral, Florida• The take longer duration measurements
Delta !] will place EUVE in a 550-km along a band in the sky centered on
(340-mile)-altitude circular orbit, the ecliptic, the projected location of
inclined at 28 degrees to the Equator. the Earth's orbit in the sky. This
After the Delta 11 rises above the telescope, also operating only during
lower layers of the atmosphere, its orbit night, will view along the shadow
10-foot-diameter protective fairing will cone of the Earth, which extends far
be jettisoned in preparation for out into interplanetary space. This
separating the spacecraft from the operational procedure will minimize
launch vehicle. The fairing protects interference by geocoronal light to the
EUVE from extreme heat and other greatest extent possible with a satellite
adverse environmental factors that observatory located below the
i geocorona.
develop during powered flight through
the lower atmosphere. Although lofted By its combination of longer exposure
by an expendable launch vehicle, the _ times and less geocoronal interference,
spacecraft is designed for on-orbit the deep survey will explore a limited
recovery, servicing, and payload band of the sky with a sensitivity that is
replacement by the Space Shuttle. from 10 to 50 times greater than the

Orbital Checkout sensitivity of the all-sky survey.

Following launch, there will be a

period of on-orbit checkout lasting
about 30 days. Ground controllers will
verify safe turn-on and operation of the
EUVE spacecraft subsystems• During
this time, most of the molecules of LEFT.• The Delta II commercial space
booster, launch vehicle tor EUVE
vapor trapped in the spacecraft
12 materials will emerge and escape into
space, a familiar process known as
outgassing. Until outgassing is
complete, the EUVE telescopes ,,,,,ill
remain shut to avoid contamination of
their ultraclean optical surfaces• Then
the telescopes will open and Berkeley
scientists will verify their proper
operation•

All-Sky Survey
The next six months of the orbital life
of EUVE will be devoted to the
principal scientific program of the
Berkeley astrophysicists. EUVE will scan
the sky simultaneously with three
telescopes equipped with a variety of
carefully designed filters. Over the
six-month period, the entire sky will be
mapped and the locations and
brightness of thousands of objects will
be measured in four wavelength
channels of the EUV. To reduce
interference with the sensitive survey
by the geocoronal glow of hydrogen
and helium, most observations will be
made only during the night portion of
the orbit. (In a low-Earth orbit such as
that of EUVE, the Sun rises and sets 16
times per day).

.... ..._i :
• . .''r_'3 /, rrDH
Survey Phase Spectroscopy Phase Retrieval
The EUVE spacecraft will rotate From the many interesting objects After the EUVE mission is completed,
around its spin axis. The three survey that will have been discovered during the Space Shuttle will rendezvous with
telescopes or "scanners" will point out the EUVE all-sky survey and other EUVE so the spacecraft can be brought
in the equatorial plane of the EUVE, so objects already known from other onboard the Shuttle by a Mission
that each telescope scans a strip five astronomical investigations, Guest Specialist operating the Remote
degrees wide along a great circle in the Observers will choose targets for Manipulator System, a 15-meter
sky. (Such a strip is about 10 times as detailed analysis. Using the EUV (49-foot) mechanical arm equipped with
wide as the full Moon.) spectrometer that incorporates grapples. The EUVE Payload Module
One end of the rotation axis of the advanced diffraction gratings, the Guest will be removed from the Explorer
EUVE will be kept pointed at the Sun. Observers will study these targets. Platform on which it is mounted, and
As the Earth moves halfway around its an X-ray Timing Explorer (XTE) Payload
Better Than Voyager
orbit of the Sun during six months, and Module will be installed in its place. If
Because EUV radiation arriving from
EUVE continues to revolve around the the stars is generally so weak that necessary, platform subsystems can be
Earth, each great circle traced by an replaced.
individual photons of extreme
EUVE scanner will slowly sweep all the The Explorer spacecraft, now
ultraviolet light must be separately
way around the sky, and each of the detected and counted, the exposure operating as the X-ray Timing Explorer,
three scanners will separately map the will be released in orbit. The XTE will
times for these spectroscopic studies
whole sky. At the same time, the deep investigate rapidly varying phenomena
are likely to range from one day to
survey telescope will always point along in cosmic x-ray sources, such as
several days per observation. The result
the rotation axis in the direction outbursts and oscillations in x-ray
will be detailed spectra, which will
opposite the Sun. Accordingly, it always emissions. The intended operating
extend over the full range of extreme
will point down the Earth's shadow lifetime of the Explorer Platform,
ultraviolet wavelengths, with 10 times
cone and will trace out half of a great starting with the EUVE launch, is 10
the spectral resolution of the EUV
circle on the sky during the six-month years, so that other experiments can be
spectrometers on the Voyager probes.
interval of the all-sky survey. mounted later.
(The Voyager instrumentation was
much less sensitive in the EUV than the
spectrometer and it was possible to
observe only a limited number of
previously known objects; no survey 13
was conducted.)
As the deep survey telescope collects BEZOt!/: Schematic showing EUVE in
relationship to Earth's shadow and our Sun
light simultaneously for the
spectrometer and for its deep survey
detectors, the fields of view around the
spectroscopy targets will be surveyed
too. The Spectroscopy Phase is expected
to last at least one year.

/ \ TO SUN

/ _ --" "-L_\
_,. ( _ _.>-,.,._

LLFI: 7rifid Nel)uAi in Sa_itt,triu_

ABOVE: /_,tronaut ,it end of Space Shuttle's

"x \ .
remote manipulator arm approaching Solar
Maximum Mission spacecraft to make repairs

C'}.'L.C'I: : '. '-Z;-i_:/'_,PH

 The three scanner telescopes, and the
deep survey telescope/spectrometer of
the Berkeley-developed EUVE payload
represent the state-of-the-art in extreme
ultraviolet astronomy. The instruments
and their associated electronics
packages are mounted in the Payload
Module, which is installed as a unit on
the Explorer Platform. Each telescope
uses metal mirrors that reflect EUV light
at grazing angles, like the rising Sun
seen mirrored in the sea. The
telescopes are equipped with filters
made from thin films of metals and
other substances, layered to isolate
desired regions of the EUV spectrum
for observation. The reflecting telescope
concepts are derived from those
proposed in the 1950s by the German
physicist, Hans Wolter, who attempted
to design an x-ray microscope.
Each of the three EUVE scanner
telescopes is about as large as a
55-gallon oil drum and weighs about 188
kilograms (about 260 pounds). The deep
survey telescope/spectrometer weighs
about 323 kilograms (about 710 pounds).

14

ABOVE: Technicians working on National Laboratory. The mirrors are

spectrometer in large thermal vacuum polished to far greater smoothness than
chamber
normally attained by skilled opticians in
Smooth Mirrors order to insure low scattering of EUV
Different mirror designs are used for light, especially at the shortest

scanner telescopes that observe the wavelengths. Specifically, the surface

longer and shorter wavelength EUV roughness has been reduced to less

light. This is necessary to efficiently than 15 Angstroms, or about 60 billionths

of an inch. The mirrors will focus EUV
collect the light while discriminating
where necessary against x-rays that light from a star or other point source
would otherwise contaminate the to an image of about 10 arcseconds,

measurements made through some of making a star seem like a spot that is
about 180 times smaller in diameter
the filters. For the same reason, some
of the mirrors are gold-coated to than the full Moon. Although this is
increase EUV reflectivity, while others larger than the image of a star formed
are left without such coatings in order by a conventinal optical telescope

to attenuate x-rays that strike their operating in visible light, it sets a new

amorphous (non-crystalline) nickel standard for EUV telescopes.

surfaces. The metal mirrors were turned
on a computer-controlled diamond
lathe at the Lawrence Livermore
Spectrometer a grating to the other, and by placing
The EUVE spectrometer represents a the gratings in the converging beam of
novel design, providing maximum the telescope rather than in a parallel
energy throughput and spectral light beam, the Berkeley designers have
resolution in the extreme ultraviolet. achieved high spectral resolution with
The more throughput the spectrometer only three reflections per channel. Each
has, the fainter the sources it can reflection of a light beam, especially an
detect in a given exposure time with a EUV light beam, results in some loss of
given telescope. As the spectral light. Therefore, by minimizing the
resolution of a spectrometer is number of reflections, the energy
increased, it becomes possible to throughput is maximized•
separate independent spectral lines,
arising in atoms and ions of different
types, which are blended together
when observed at lower resolution and
are thus difficult or impossible to study.
Sir Isaac Newton
The key component of a
spectrometer is the dispersing element,
meaning the optical device that spreads
light out into a spectrum. The most
familiar dispersing element is the glass
prism made famous by Sir Isaac
Newton, who observed sunlight that
passed through his prism to be spread LEFT: Techmcmn m clean ro_m_
out into the colors of the rainbow. environment m_pe(tin_ scanmng
telescope
Modern spectrometers usually are
provided with dispersing elements
called diffraction gratings. A diffraction
grating is a plate of glass or similar f5
material that is provided with a thin,
smooth metal coating in which
t3ELOH/: Schematic showing £UV[ mirror
thousands of very narrow, parallel design
grooves are ruled at precisely
controlled spacings. When light waves MOUNTING
SURFACE
reflect from the grooves, they bend
slightly at the edges of the grooves (a
phenomenon called diffraction) and
thus change direction. The amount of
bending depends on the color or COLC':;. i" r:.,-, ..,_ .... r
wavelength. Therefore, the different
wavelengths are bent by different
amounts and the incoming light, upon
reflecting from the grating, is diffracted
into a spectrum.
Cutting Edge 40.0 CM.

The key feature of the EUVE

spectrometer is the use of three
51.4 CM.
diffraction gratings of a new type in a
converging light beam and the
existence of only three reflecting PRIMARY SECONDARY

surfaces in each of the three SURFACE SURFACE

wavelength channels. By using the new

kind of diffraction gratings, in which
the spacing between grooves or "lines"
is continuously varied from one end of

27.9 CM
 The EUVE spacecraft consists of a The Solar Maximum Mission (SMM)
Payload Module that contains the EUVE was designed so that the instruments
scientific instruments and associated and therefore a fixed surface of the
electronics packages. Also, it includes spacecraft, would always point at the
an Explorer Platform that provides Sun. On the other hand, EUVE will
structural support, two-way communi- point telescopes in directions away
cations with the ground, electrical from the Sun, and future payloads on
power, stabilization, and pointing the same Explorer Platform may need
control. This spacecraft design, developed to point in still other directions.
at the Goddard Space Flight Center Accordingly, while the solar panels on
(GSFC), represents a natural evolution SMM were fixed in orientation with arrays are larger, incorporate more
of the earlier Multi-Mission Modular respect to the spacecraft structure, the efficient photovoltaic cells, and produce
Spacecraft design, as first used by GSFC solar panels on the Explorer Platform more power than the SMM solar arrays.
in the Solar Maximum Mission spacecraft. must be capable of articulation, that is, Toaster Oven
The Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) for pointing at the Sun as the spacecraft At the beginning of the EUVE
spacecraft, launched in 1980, was points instrumen_ i_" first one direction mission, the solar arrays will provide
retrieved by the Space Shuttle and then another..dso, the EUVE more than 1,000 watts of power,
Challenger, repaired onboard, and
released back into orbit during a single,
manned flight in 1984. The Solar
Maximum Repair Mission demonstrated
for the first time that a spacecraft ABOVE: Artist's conception of NASA's
designed for on-orbit replacement of Tracking and Data Relay Satellite

individual subsystems could be repaired LEFT: Support module for the EUVE
scientific instruments
safely in space. The Explorer Platform
developed for EUVE and subsequent BELOW: Cutaway drawing of EUVE
spacecraft configuration
missions carries this design philosophy
further by providing a generally
adaptable Platform Equipment Deck,
which can accept science payloads of
16
many kinds, including some that may
not have been envisioned when the
platform was actually built. The key to
this new design is the concept of the
Payload Module, which may contain
any scientific instruments that fit within
the limits of available space and power.
Rather than mounting individual
scientific instruments to the spacecraft,
as was done in the Solar Maximum
Mission, the entire complement of
EUVE instruments, contained in a
single, replaceable Payload Module, are
mounted to the Platform Equipment
Deck of the Explorer Platform as a
single unit. By the same token, the
Payload Module can be removed at a
future date--a process that will be
performed in space--and replaced by a
new module that mounts on the deck
in the same way, but which contains a
wholly different set of scientific
instruments.

Solar Arrays
All power on the EUVE spacecraft
comes from the Sun. Solar energy is
converted to electricity in photovoltaic
cells contained in the spacecraft's solar
arrays and is stored in batteries.
averaged over a typical orbit. Of this, a Antenna Pointing System (MAPS), is Backup communications modes are
maximum of 300 watts will be allocated mounted on a gimbal at the end of an provided via an omnidirectional antenna
to the Payload Module. That allocation extendable mast (deployed after on the Explorer Platform, which can
is less than one-fourth of the power separation from the launch vehicle) on transmit directly to ground stations located
needed to operate a typical toaster the EUVE Explorer Platform. (A high- in sight of the spacecraft, and via
oven, but is ample to run the house- gain antenna is one with a relatively NASA's Deep Space Network, operated
keeping subsystems and scientific narrow beam, so that it can receive by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
instruments on EUVE, all of which use and transmit radio communications in a Pasadena, California.
advanced solid-state components. For highly directional manner.) The high- Newton's Law
example, the three EUVE scanner gain antenna on EUVE can be steered The Explorer Platform provides
telescopes together use only about by the MAPS to establish communi- reaction wheels, gyros, and magnetic
24 watts. cations with a TDRS satellite located
torquers to stabilize and point the
lO-Year Lifetime high above in geostationary orbit. From EUVE spacecraft. To steer the
the tracking satellite, data are spacecraft, the reaction wheels are
Solar arrays are known to degrade in
forwarded to a TDRS ground terminal accelerated by small electric motors, as
low-Earth orbit, where they are struck
at White Sands, New Mexico, which instructed by commands from the
by high-speed oxygen atoms that
induce defects in the cells. Therefore, routes them by land line to the POCC. ground. Then, by Newton's Third Law
Telemetry is received, processed, and of Motion (every action has an equal
to insure proper operation of the
forwarded onboard the Explorer and opposite reaction), the spacecraft
Explorer Platform over its intended
Platform by a replaceable turns in the opposite direction.
10-year lifetime, the arrays are designed
Communications and Data Handling The magnetic torquers, which contain
for easy removal and replacement in
Module. This subsystem stores commands electromagnets that can be energized
space during servicing missions of the
sent from the ground for execution at by ground command, are used to
Space Shuttle.
specified times in both the platform and reduce, or "dump" momentum by
Electricity generated by the solar
science instrument systems. It also reacting against the Earth's magnetic
arrays is stored in a Modular Power
executes real-time commands from the field. Otherwise, the reaction wheels
System (MPS), consisting of the storage
POCC to operate onboard equipment. would eventually spin too fast. Gyros
batteries, power regulators, and power
It processes the housekeeping telemetry are used to keep track of exactly where
controllers. Night and day occur about
that indicates the state of flight systems the spacecraft is pointing. The Modular
16 times each per day, as the EUVE
and also the science data generated by Attitude Control System that incorporates 17
operates in low-Earth orbit. Power
the EUVE telescopes and the these components receives input data
generated during orbit day is stored in
the batteries so that energy is available spectrometer. All data are stored in on orientation from star- and Sun-sensors.
magnetic tape recorders, for playback
to operate the spacecraft during orbit
via the TDRS System to the ground at
night. Ground controllers carefully
commanded times.
regulate the constant cycle of battery
charging and discharging, so that
battery lifetime is maximized consistent
with the requirements of on-orbit
spacecraft operations. When the
batteries fail or deteriorate to an
unacceptable extent, as all batteries
eventually will, the MPS can be
replaced in orbit by a Shuttle astronaut.
Command and Control
EUVE will be operated from a
Payload Operations Control Center
(POCC) at the Goddard Space Flight
Center. Commands will flow to the
spacecraft from the POCC, and data
obtained by the spacecraft will be
routed through to the POCC and then
to the Science Operations Center at the
Center for EUV Astrophysics at Berkeley.

Tracking Satellite
Normal communications to and from Astronaut in shuttle bay _,.ith Solar Maximum Mission spacecraft
EUVE will be via the Tracking and Data in backg,round
Relay Satellite (TDRS) System. A high-
gain antenna, part of the Modular

• L
 What Will EUVE Find?

As with every Explorer spacecraft, the

most remarkable objects that EUVE
finds are likely to represent phenomena
that scientists have not predicted yet.
Nevertheless, from the properties of
presently known celestial objects,
astronomers predict that among the
astronomical bodies that EUVE is likely
to detect are red and white dwarf stars,
neutron stars, and B-type stars with
extended atmospheres heated to high
temperatures by shock waves. Other
EUVE objects likely to be investigated
include binary stars of the RS Canum
Venaticorum type, the hot outer
atmospheres (coronae) of stars similar
to the Sun, and so-callod dwarf novae
or cataclysmic variable stars.
Additionally, EUVE will investigate
physical processes in our solar
system--notably in the auroras of
Jupiter and possibly of Saturn, and in
the Io torus, a doughnut-shaped observe quasars that are located at "IH( )_.'t.: Z()ta/ _(_/,Ir _'(lips('
formation of electrified gas atoms that distances of many millions of
circles Jupiter at the position of the light-years.
orbit of its volcanic moon, Io. Not Ordinary
Mapping Galactic Gas EUV radiation is generated under
Detecting members of each of the conditions so different from those that
BELOW: White dwarf in planetary nebula
classes of stars in our Milky Way we commonly experience that it

18 galaxy, EUVE will obtain the necessary necessarily follows that most of the
data to estimate the amount of sources that EUVE will detect are

interstellar gas along the line of sight to remarkable by ordinary standards.

the star, and perhaps the relative EUV light can arise from intensely
amounts of the two predominant incandescent surfaces, like those found

constituents of the gas, hydrogen and in the thick atmospheres of very hot
helium, in that direction. This stars, and it can be produced in thinner
information will allow astronomers to gases at high temperatures. The
develop basic information on the radiation can be continuous with

distribution of interstellar gas in the wavelength, like the glow from an

vicinity of the solar system, and out to incandescent light bulb, or it can be
distances of hundreds of light-years. In characterized by an emission line
effect, they map not only the distri- spectrum, like the light from a neon
bution of detectable EUV-emitting sign. The glow from a light bulb occurs
objects in the sky, but also the distri- at wavelengths of visible and infrared
bution of invisible interstellar gas. The light, while many of the likely sources
map is likely to reveal the existence of of EUV radiation emit their energy
some tunnels or lines of sight in which predominantly in that spectral region.
there is very little gas. In these EUV spectral emission lines can be
directions, it may even be possible to generated also when high-speed
electrified, subatomic particles smash
into atoms or molecules of familiar
gases such as oxygen.

,. •............ k) I U,j ",,l{ rt

White Dwarfs through, or settle in the atmospheres mass of the Sun. In contrast, normal

Hot, white dwarf stars, with surface can be elucidated. stars made of hot, electrified gases are
temperatures of tens of thousands of Small and dense, white dwarf stars believed to be capable of forming with
kelvins (the Sun's surface temperature is consist largely of so-called electron masses up to about 120 times the solar
about 6,000 kelvins, or about 11,000 degenerate matter, which is not found mass. So far as is known, a white dwarf

degrees Fahrenheit), are likely to be on Earth. A typical white dwarf has star, if isolated from neighbors in space,
detected in great numbers by EUVE. about 65 percent of the mass of the will slowly cool forever, gradually
Some white dwarfs in our galaxy are Sun, or about 650 times the mass of changing from a source of EUV
even likely to be detected at distances the giant planet, Jupiter, yet all of this radiation to just a visible-light source,

of 3,000 light-years. material is compressed into a tiny star and eventually dimming into
EUVE all-sky survey data on these about the same size as the Earth. A indetectable obscurity. By studying
hot, white dwarf stars, combined with single teaspoonful of white dwarf white dwarf stars with EUVE,

data from existing optical and matter would weigh tons on Earth. astronomers will learn about matter

ultraviolet telescopes, will indicate their White dwarfs are thought to represent existent in strange conditions and about
temperatures and the relative content the final evolutionary state of stars like the future, final life stage of our Sun.
of hydrogen and helium in their our Sun and other stars, ranging Neutron Stars
atmospheres. Also, the data will reveal upward at the times of their formation Neutron stars are even smaller,
how much interstellar gas is located to perhaps as much as eight times the denser and more massive objects than
between each white dwarf star and the solar mass. white dwarfs. A single teaspoonful of
Earth. When white dwarfs are During their earlier evolution, these neutron star material, if it could be
examined with the EUVE spectrometer, stars must shed much or most of their confined, would weigh trillions of tons
spectral lines of other elements may be material in order to eventually become on Earth. Neutron stars form at higher
detected, which can be interpreted to a white dwarf. According to a theory temperatures than white dwarfs, yet
yield more information on chemical first proposed by the Nobel Prize- rapidly cool. They are believed to be
composition. Theories for the structure winning astrophysicist, Subrahmanyan the remnant cores of supergiant stars
of the atmospheric layers in these stars Chandrasekhar of the University of that exploded as supernovae, like the
can be tested, and mechanisms by Chicago, no white dwarf can ever great supernova that was seen in the
which various elements may diffuse contain more than about 1.44 times the southern sky in February 1987. Some

19

Voyager-2 photograph of some detail and

difference in Saturn's complex system of
rings
 are known to have powerful magnetic star is typically no larger than a major type (named for the first known system
fields and to be rotating at high speed; metropolitan area (although containing of this type). In this class of binary
they are detectable as pulsars, sources half again as much matter as the Sun system, the two member stars are close
of rapidly repeating bursts of radio and the rest of our whole solar system), to each other and are locked in
waves that may be produced as a beam it may glow fiercely in extreme synchronous rotation, so that as they
of radio emission turns with the ultraviolet light. orbit around the center of mass of the
neutron star, like the beam of a rotating It appears that the EUVE offers the system, the same hemisphere of each
radar scanner at an airport. As the best-known possibility of detecting star always faces toward the other. In
neutron star beam rotates past the these hypothesized accreting dead contrast, as the Sun turns once every
Earth, astronomers detect a radio burst pulsars. The detection of even one such 27 days, we on Earth see first one
or "pulse." According to present object would be a major advance in hemisphere and then the other.
information, a neutron star that is a astronomy. The possibility exists that a Studies with x-ray telescopes and the
typical pulsar gradually spins slower dead pulsar lurks within 10 light-years International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE)
and slower, its magnetic field weakens, of the Sun, yet has escaped detection
and its radio emission cuts off. by present means. If so, EUVE may find it.
There may be millions of dead Red Dwarfs
pulsars (those whose radio emissions Red dwarf stars, like Proxima
have ceased) in our galaxy that are Centauri, the nearest known star
undetectable by present techniques. Yet beyond the Sun, have intense magnetic
EUVE may find one or more such dead
activity that heats their outer
pulsars, if theoretical speculations pan
atmospheres or coronae. In these
out. According to these ideas,
coronae, there often are great
interstellar gas attracted by the explosions called stellar flares, which
powerful gravity of the dead pulsars perhaps mimic the solar flares that
may accrete onto their surfaces, occur on our Sun, but which are vastly
reheating them to temperatures of a more powerful.
few hundred thousand degrees. If they Similar activity occurs in binary star
get that hot, then although a neutron
systems of the RS Canum Venaticorum

20
reveal that disturbed regions in the stars, which are much hotter than their The data should allow EUVE observers

atmospheres of these binary stars are surface layers. to test and perhaps distinguish between
the sites of intense magnetic activity, Soft x-rays are those with relatively the different theories of these shock-

like giant analogs of the sunspots on low energies and relatively long wave- heated winds that were recently
our own star. Flares also occur in the lengths; they constitute the region of proposed by Joseph Cassinelli of the
atmospheres above these regions. the electromagnetic spectrum that adjoins University of Wisconsin and Roll-Peter
EUVE is expected to glean important, the EUV on its short-wavelength-side. Kudritzki of the Max Planck Institute of
new information about the coronae and The Einstein and EXOSAT findings Astronomy and Astrophysics in Munich,
flares of red dwarf stars and RS Canum have led astrophysicists to infer that Federal Republic of Germany.
Venaticorum systems. EUVE also should many of these cool stars also must be Dwarf Novae
detect interesting EUV spectra from the strong EUV emitters, even if they do Dwarf novae are a fascinating subject
hot, outer layers of other classes of not undergo major flares or other for study by the EUVE. These so-called
nearby cool stars. eruptions. Calculations suggest several cataclysmic variable stars are actually
Observations by the Einstein and thousand cool stars should be detected binary star systems in which an
EXOSAT satellites showed that many and studied in the EUVE all sky-survey. ordinary main sequence star, not
types of cool stars, including "main B Stars remarkably different from our Sun, is
sequence" stars like the Sun, familiar Early type-B stars like the familar closely orbiting a common center of
bright stars such as Capella and Spica, brightest star in the constellation gravity with a white dwarf star
Procyon, and red dwarf stars, emit soft Virgo, have unexpectedly proved to companion.
x-rays. The radiation presumably comes possess extended coronae. In these Because of the powerful gravity of
from the upper atmospheres of these huge, outer atmospheres of the B stars, the white dwarf, gas streams out from
the gases probably are heated by shock the atmosphere of the main sequence
waves generated when a faster-moving star and fails down on the white dwarf,
LEFT: Crab Nebula containing a neutron star wind from the star crashes into slower- spiralling inward toward it through a
at its center moving gas that left the lower Tayers of structure known as an accretion disk.

BELOW: Proxima Centauri, a Red Dwarf star the star at an earlier time. Or, fast and As the gas in the disk spirals closer and
appearing as a very tiny point of light adjacent slow gas currents may collide in some closer toward the white dwarf star, it
to Alpha Centauri (lower left quadrant) as-yet-unspecified way. In any case, just moves into a smaller and smaller
as a shock wave or sonic boom
precedes the supersonic transport, 21
Concorde, as it flies through the nearly
stationary gases of the Earth's lower
atmosphere, shock waves occur in a
B-star corona when the fast moving
streams move through coronal regions
at speeds greater than the local speed
of sound. Much energy is released,
making the corona so hot that it glows
brightly in the EUV. Observations by
the EUVE spectrometer are expected to
detect spectral lines in the 80- to
120-Angstrom spectral range that can
be analyzed to determine temperatures,
densities, and other physical conditions
in these unusual stellar atmospheres.

Early-type B _star_,
in Plemdes

(,: L l " :, )"t,_i:Z:\ ; '.':' ;"{

 volume. Therefore, the density of the the extreme ultraviolet. atoms) that orbit Jupiter at roughly Io's
falling gas inexorably increases. In Io is one of the four large moons of distance from the planet, spreading out
effect, the gas is being compressed by Jupiter discovered by Galileo in the to fill a doughnut-shaped plasma cloud,
the gravity of the white dwarf star. early 17th century. The great Italian the to torus.
Because a compressed gas becomes astronomer could hardly have imagined Other charged particles stream down
hotter (and when it expands it cools, that almost four centuries later, the the lines of magnetic force that loop far
the principle on which home Voyager-1 spaceprobe would pass near out from Jupiter and pass through the
refrigerators and air conditioners work), the moons that he first glimpsed and region of Io. Striking the upper
the gas in the accretion disk of the would discover frequently- or atmosphere of the giant planet near the
dwarf nova system get hotter and hotter, constantly-erupting volcanoes on Io, polar regions, the charged particles
and accordingly it glows in the EUV. which release huge amounts of sulfur stimulate atoms and molecules, making
At irregular intervals of days, weeks, and oxygen in various forms into trans- them glow in an ultraviolet aurora that
or months, eruptions occur in the Jovian space. Some of these substances is reminiscent of the aurora borealis
accretion disk. During these eruptions, become individual ions (electrified and australis (the northern and
one of which was actually observed by southern lights) sometimes seen on
the EUV telescope during the Apollo- Earth.
Soyuz Test Project in 1975, there occur The EUVE spectrometer will gather
great outbursts of extreme ultraviolet basic new data on the spectral
radiation. Studies of dwarf novae with properties of the Io torus and the
the EUV will yield basic physical Jovian aurorae and may be capable
information about these strange star also of gathering such data on aurorae
systems and how they explode. on the planet Saturn or even on distant
Io Torus Uranus. From this information,

EUVE also will yield basic new aeronomers--scientists who specialize

information about the planet Jupiter in the physical study of light emissions

and its strange planet-girdling gaseous and physical processes in planetary

belt, the "1o torus," which glows in atmospheres--will learn about the
invisible forms of radiation, including particles that stimulate the observed
glows, the atoms and molecules
involved in the glows themselves, and
22
the natural processes at work.

Quasars
Quasars are as a class, the most
distant and powerful sources of energy
in the known universe. Some quasars
blaze fqrth so brightly that present
telescopes can glimpse them at
distances far beyond almost all
identified galaxies.
Yet a quasar is apparently an object
no larger than our solar system, and a
typical galaxy contains hundreds of
billions of stars like the Sun.
The mystery of why a tiny quasar can
outshine a huge galaxy remains
unsolved, despite almost 30 years of
study by hundreds of astronomers since
the first quasars were found. The
leading idea postulates that at the heart
of the quasar there is a supermassive
black hole, a region of space in which
matter amounting to hundreds of
millions of solar masses is packed into
a radius so small that the gravitational
force exerted is too powerful to allow
the escape of a ray of light.

TOP: Center of Andromeda Galaxy, one of

the nearest to our own Milky Way

ABOVE: Io, Jupiter's volcanic Moon, from C ! _ ", • :

Voyager- I
 Around the supermassive black hole,
some experts postulate that there is a
"reprocessing region," where
electromagnetic radiation is reduced in Quasar 3C273, a very distant object with
extremely high energy, observed for the first
energy (increased in wavelength) as it
time in x-ray by HEAO-2 spacecraft
passes through a hot gas. Whether or
not this is true, many investigators
consider that the putative black hole is
surrounded by an accretion disk. This
structure must be much larger than the
accretion disk in the dwarf nova
system, but presumably it forms in the
same way, through the infall or matter
toward the black hole.
Recent findings suggest that the EUVE
can help to explore the nature of either
or both of these two hypothetical
structures, the reprocessing region and
the accretion disk.
Specifically, x-ray observations made
from space show that many quasars
have an unexpected emission in the
longest wavelength x-rays, which
border on the EUV region of the
spectrum. Extrapolation suggests that
this same emission might be very strong
in the EUV and theorists propose that
the radiation may be coming from the
quasar accretion disk and perhaps from
the reprocessing region, if one exists.
23
At the same time, if a number of
relatively gas-free lines of sight exist, it
might be possible to view extragalactic
space through them and perhaps detect
the EUV radiation from a quasar in that
direction. This may be a long shot, but
the scientific results, should this difficult
quasar observation succeed, could
include fundamental new information
on one of the greatest puzzles in
modern astronomy--the nature and
energy source of quasars.
 The EUVE Program is a component of low-contamination EUV instrument The SOC will work closely with the
the Astrophysics Program conducted by calibration facility. It incorporates a mission planners at Goddard to
the Office of Space Science and vacuum chamber with a capacity of coordinate the acquisition of scientific
Applications at NASA Headquarters in 3x5 meters (about 10x16 feet) which measurements by EUVE and the proper
Washington, D.C. Direct management is entered after passing through a series commanding of the scientific
responsibility for developing and of clean rooms, to control instruments on board. The SOC will
operating EUVE, including the Explorer contamination by airborne dust and support both the all-sky survey planning
Platform and Payload Module, is vested other substances that can degrade and the development of spectroscopy
in the Goddard Space Flight Center, sensitive optical and sensor observation plans for Guest Observers.
Greenbelt, Maryland. components. The Science Data Analysis Facility will
The Center has contracted with the To coordinate science operations provide an archive for the raw science
University of California at Berkeley for planning and the control, performance telemetry from EUVE and for the
the design, fabrication, integration, monitoring, and data collection from processed data. Members of the
calibration and test of the scientific the scientific instruments, the Berkeley Berkeley science team will use the
instruments, the conduct of the all-sky scientists have established an EUVE facility to produce the all-sky survey
survey, and the development of the Science Center at the University. This catalog and sky map, and to study data
necessary computer software for the includes a Science Operations Center from the EUVE deep survey. Guest
processing and scientific analysis of (SOC), a Science Data Storage Facility, Observers will study these data and the
data from the EUVE telescopes and and a Science Data Analysis Facility, all spectroscopy observations from EUVE,
spectrometer. equipped with appropriately-networked using computer tools at the facility, or
A Flight Operations Team will staff computer workstations. The EUVE Science by analyzing magnetic tapes or
the EUVE Payload Operations Control Center will manage the Guest Observer electronically transmitted data files at
Center (POCC) at Goddard to control Program during the Spectroscopy Phase their home institutions.
mission operations and conduct short- of the EUVE Mission, when Guest
term and long-range mission planning. Observers selected by NASA
To perform their assigned Headquarters will study data obtained
development tasks, the Berkeley with the EUVE.
astronomers have built a state-of-the-art,

24

In.strument C-alibration Facility <it University

of California at Berkeley
EUVE Team
Key NASA Personnel

NASA Headquarters
EUVE Program Manager Mr. John Lintott
EUVE Discipline Chief Dr. Edward J. Weiler
EUVE Program Scientist Dr. Robert V. Stachnik

Goddard Space Flight Center

Deputy Project Manager, Explorers and Mr. Donald U Margolies
Attached Payloads Projects
EUVE Project Scientist Dr. Yoji Kondo
Project Manager, Satellite Servicing Mr. Frank J. Cepollina
Project
Spacecraft Manager, Satellite Servicing Mr. Robert H. Spiess
Project
EUVE Instrument Systems Manager Mr. Dale F. Schulz
EUVE Payload Module Manager Mr. Richard M. Day
EUVE Mission Operations Manager Mr. Hector Zayas

Key University of California at Berkeley Personnel

EUVE Science Principal Investigator Prof. Stuart Bowyer
EUVE Instrument Principal Investigator Dr. Roger Malina
EUVE Science Payload Project Manager Mr. Steven J. Battel
EUVE Project Astronomer Dr. Herman Marshall
EUVE Guest Observer Project Scientist Dr. Carol Christian
EUVE Instrument Scientist Dr. Patrick Jelinsky

Other Principal Members of the EUVE Team

Goddard Space Flight Center University of California, Berkeley

Mr. Walter Ancarrow Dr. Supriya Chakrabati
Mr. James Barrowman Mr. Carl Dobson

Mr. George Daelemans, Jr. Ms. Trish Dobson

Mr. David Douds Dr. David Finley
Mr. James Jew Dr. Isabel Hawkins
Mr. Donald Kirkpatrick Mr. Henry Heetderks
Mr. Kelly McEntire Dr. Michael Lampton
Mr. Anthony Miller Dr. Koji Mukai
Mr. William Mocarsky Dr. Oswald Siegmund
Mr. W. Lee Niemeyer Mr. lames Tom
Mr. Peter O'Neill Dr. John Vallerga
Mr. John Robinson Dr. Peter Vedder
Mr. Robert Shelley Dr. Barry Welsh
Ms. Bonnie Teti
Mr. Clyde Woodall

Photographic Credits

Ball Aerospace Group

California Institute of Technology and
Carnegie Institution of Washington
Fairchild Space Company
Geoff Chester, Albert Einstein Planetarium
NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center
Lick Observatory, University of California
McDonnel Douglas Astronautics Company
Naval Research Laboratory
NASA Headquarters
University of California, Berkeley
U.S. Naval Observatory
Author of the Brochure

Dr. Stephen P. Maran

Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Researched and edited by
lira Lynch and Associates