Photograph • May 16, 2010
Assembly of the first NuSTAR optics module (FM0). NuSTAR flies two optics units, each with 133 layers of grazing incidence optics.
Photograph • August 1, 2009
The NuSTAR glass optics are being shaped at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) mirror development lab, led by Will Zhang.
Niko Stergiou, a contractor at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, helped manufacture the 9,000 mirror segments that make up the optics unit in the NuSTAR mission.
Essential to the NuSTAR design is a deployable mast which extended to 10 meters (30 feet) after launch. This mast separates the NuSTAR X-ray optics from the detectors, a necessity to achieve the long focal length required by the optics design.