Mounting and Alignment of Full-Shell Replicated X-Ray Optics

Abstract

We are developing grazing-incidence x-ray optics for astronomy. The optics are full-cylinder mirror shells fabricated using electroformed-nickel replication off super-polished mandrels. For space-based applications where weight is at a premium, very-thin-walled, light-weight mirrors are required. Such shells have been fabricated at MSFC with greater than 15 arcsec resolution. The challenge, however, is to preserve this resolution during mounting and assembly. We present here a status report on a mounting and alignment system currently under development at Marshall Space Flight Center to meet this challenge.