Photograph • August 1, 2009
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.
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.