On August 21, a team of NASA funded Northwestern astrophysicists launched a “Micro-X” rocket from White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico to record an image of Cassiopeia A, the remnant of a supernova.
Northwestern professor of physics and astronomy Enectali Figueroa-Feliciano is the leader of the program. Figueroa-Feliciano is also a member of Northwestern’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics and advised a team of seven graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and post-baccalaureate researchers, who spent the past decade building and testing the rocket. The team built the rocket in Figueroa-Feliciano’s laboratory on Northwestern’s Evanston campus.
“Constructing the Micro-X rocket is a challenging endeavor,” Figueroa-Feliciano said. “Once it launches, it needs to be a completely hands-off process. It has to turn on, record data, store data and send data back to us autonomously. It gives the students an opportunity to learn how to build and test real technology.”
“The supernova remnant is so hot that most of the light it emits is not in the visible range,” said Figueroa-Feliciano. “We have to use X-ray imaging, which isn’t possible from Earth because our atmosphere absorbs X-rays. That’s why we have to go into space. It’s like if you jumped into the air, snapped a photo just as your head peeked above the atmosphere and then landed back down.”
Learn more in Northwestern Now’s article, “Northwestern rocket to image supernova remnant.”