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    "title": "ComPair Gamma-Ray Balloon Mission",
    "description": "Carolyn Kierans, principal investigator for the ComPair balloon mission at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, works on the instrument in this video. First, she assembles a layer of the tracker, which is housed in an aluminum casing. Next, she shows one of the tracker’s silicon detectors. Then she takes the lid off the tracker.Credit: NASA/Sophia Roberts || Unassembled_Parts_of_ComPair.01740_print.jpg (1024x540) [148.3 KB] || Unassembled_Parts_of_ComPair.01740_searchweb.png (320x180) [94.0 KB] || Unassembled_Parts_of_ComPair.01740_thm.png (80x40) [7.0 KB] || Unassembled_Parts_of_ComPair.webm (4096x2160) [18.2 MB] || Unassembled_Parts_of_ComPair.mp4 (4096x2160) [570.8 MB] || ",
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            "description": "Kierans prepares the instrument’s tracker for testing in a small thermal vacuum chamber at Goddard in this video. The first two shots show her opening the door to the chamber, which is used to test how the instrument works in temperatures from minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees below zero Celsius) to 86 F (30 C). The third shot shows Kierans and Sambid Wasti (Catholic University of America) moving the tracker into the chamber.<p><p>Credit: NASA/Sophia Roberts",
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            "title": "Argonne Assembles, Tests Early ComPair-2 Hardware",
            "description": "Tim Cundiff, an engineering specialist at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois, monitors the automated wire bond of a ComPair-2 detector layer in April 2025. Image courtesy of Argonne National LaboratoryAlt text: A man in a lab uses a microscope.Image description: A man in a white clean suit, gloves, safety glasses, and a hairnet sits in front of a piece of machinery in a laboratory and peers into a microscope. Behind him is a long bench covered in scientific equipment and computers. In front of him, inside the machinery, are what look like two black treads that loop in and out of frame. || 34340D_0388_PSE_NASA_Goddard_Gamma-Ray_Tracker_Assembly_Process_WEB_16x9.jpg (2000x1125) [1.1 MB] || 34340D_0388_PSE_NASA_Goddard_Gamma-Ray_Tracker_Assembly_Process_WEB_16x9_searchweb.png (320x180) [124.6 KB] || 34340D_0388_PSE_NASA_Goddard_Gamma-Ray_Tracker_Assembly_Process_WEB_16x9_thm.png (80x40) [27.3 KB] || ",
            "release_date": "2026-03-20T12:00:00-04:00",
            "update_date": "2026-03-20T12:22:37-04:00",
            "main_image": {
                "id": 1202609,
                "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014900/a014991/34340D_0388_PSE_NASA_Goddard_Gamma-Ray_Tracker_Assembly_Process_WEB_16x9.jpg",
                "filename": "34340D_0388_PSE_NASA_Goddard_Gamma-Ray_Tracker_Assembly_Process_WEB_16x9.jpg",
                "media_type": "Image",
                "alt_text": "Tim Cundiff, an engineering specialist at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois, monitors the automated wire bond of a ComPair-2 detector layer in April 2025. \rImage courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory\rAlt text: A man in a lab uses a microscope.\rImage description: A man in a white clean suit, gloves, safety glasses, and a hairnet sits in front of a piece of machinery in a laboratory and peers into a microscope. Behind him is a long bench covered in scientific equipment and computers. In front of him, inside the machinery, are what look like two black treads that loop in and out of frame.",
                "width": 2000,
                "height": 1125,
                "pixels": 2250000
            }
        },
        {
            "id": 14980,
            "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14980/",
            "page_type": "Produced Video",
            "title": "Prototype ComPair-2 Gamma-Ray Detectors Complete Thermal Vacuum Testing",
            "description": "Prototype gamma-ray detectors for the ComPair-2 mission rests in a thermal vacuum chamber after testing in June 2025 at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The ComPair-2 team tested the detectors’ performance at hot and cold temperatures over the course of a week and the overall survivability of the layer itself. Credit: NASA/Sophia RobertsAlt text: A piece of equipment sits inside a chamber in a lab. Image description: A cylindrical metal chamber at the center of the image has its door swung all the way open. Inside are silver-wrapped ComPair-2 detectors attached to many copper-colored wires. The chamber is in a lab with white walls and has tubes, wires, and other pieces of equipment attached. || ComPair2_TVAC-1-small.jpg (4096x2732) [3.2 MB] || ComPair2_TVAC-1.jpg (8192x5464) [30.6 MB] || ",
            "release_date": "2026-02-26T12:00:00-05:00",
            "update_date": "2026-02-26T12:02:25-05:00",
            "main_image": {
                "id": 1202201,
                "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014900/a014980/ComPair2_TVAC-2-small_searchweb.png",
                "filename": "ComPair2_TVAC-2-small_searchweb.png",
                "media_type": "Image",
                "alt_text": "Iker Liceaga-Indart, a mechanical engineer at NASA Goddard, peers into the thermal vacuum chamber to evaluate the prototype after testing. \rCredit: NASA/Sophia Roberts\rAlt text: A man investigates a chamber in a lab.\rImage description: A man in a navy-blue polo shirt kneels to look into a cylindrical metal chamber in a lab. The chamber door is fully open and inside are silver-wrapped ComPair-2 detectors attached to many copper-colored wires.",
                "width": 320,
                "height": 180,
                "pixels": 57600
            }
        },
        {
            "id": 14794,
            "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14794/",
            "page_type": "Produced Video",
            "title": "Developing NASA’s ComPair-2 Detectors",
            "description": "ComPair-2 will host a gamma-ray tracker with 10 layers, each with 380 silicon detectors, like the engineering test unit shown here. This trial version allows the mission team to test the electronics, measure how well the detectors work together, and develop assembly procedures for each layer. Credit: NASA/Sophia RobertsAlt text: Scientific hardware on a table Image description: A square piece of scientific hardware rests on a table on top of a silver cover. The hardware has a white board on the bottom with a silver peg at each corner. Inside the pegs is a black square with orange and green electronic components. The green runs along the bottom of the square and takes up the left corner of the black square. The orange electronic components run in 20 stripes along the black square. The orange is interspersed with black. || ComPair2-3_print.jpg (1024x683) [631.9 KB] || ComPair2-3.jpg (8192x5464) [29.1 MB] || ComPair2-3_searchweb.png (320x180) [124.5 KB] || ComPair2-3_web.png (320x213) [137.6 KB] || ComPair2-3_thm.png [28.0 KB] || ",
            "release_date": "2025-03-11T00:00:00-04:00",
            "update_date": "2025-03-11T12:44:33-04:00",
            "main_image": {
                "id": 1153310,
                "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014700/a014794/Daniel_Violette_ComPair2-1_print.jpg",
                "filename": "Daniel_Violette_ComPair2-1_print.jpg",
                "media_type": "Image",
                "alt_text": "Dan Violette, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA Goddard, tips the engineering test unit toward the camera in the ComPair-2 lab. The black carbon fiber frame was fabricated at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and machined and assembled at Goddard.\rCredit: NASA/Sophia Roberts\rAlt text: A man holds a square piece of electronic equipment\rImage description: A man in a long-sleeved blue lab coat tips a square piece of electronic equipment toward the camera. The square has a white base, with a slightly smaller black square on top. Orange and black rows cover the black square, with green along the right side and covering the bottom right corner. The square rests on a lab bench covered in silver material.",
                "width": 1024,
                "height": 712,
                "pixels": 729088
            }
        },
        {
            "id": 14373,
            "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14373/",
            "page_type": "Infographic",
            "title": "ComPair Infographic",
            "description": "Explore this infographic to learn more about ComPair and scientific ballooning.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMachine-readable PDF copy || ComPair_Infographic_Final.jpg (5100x6600) [3.3 MB] || ComPair_Infographic_Final.png (5100x6600) [11.7 MB] || ComPair_Infographic_Final-half.jpg (2550x3300) [1.3 MB] || ComPair_Infographic_Final-half.png (2550x3300) [3.8 MB] || ",
            "release_date": "2023-08-08T10:00:00-04:00",
            "update_date": "2023-08-09T13:12:03-04:00",
            "main_image": {
                "id": 857254,
                "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014300/a014373/ComPair_Thumbnail_print.jpg",
                "filename": "ComPair_Thumbnail_print.jpg",
                "media_type": "Image",
                "alt_text": "These elements from the infographic above show the ComPair instrument on the left and its location on the gondola on the right.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center",
                "width": 1024,
                "height": 576,
                "pixels": 589824
            }
        },
        {
            "id": 14372,
            "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14372/",
            "page_type": "B-Roll",
            "title": "ComPair Thermal Vacuum Photos",
            "description": "Team members work on the ComPair balloon instrument before it begins testing in a thermal vacuum chamber at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. ComPair project manager Regina Caputo (front right), graduate student Nicholas Kirschner (George Washington University, left), and research scientist Nicholas Cannady (University of Maryland Baltimore County, rear) examine ComPair's various components to determine what needs to be “harnessed,” or connected via cable to power systems and the onboard computer.Credit: NASA/Scott Wiessinger || ComPair_TVac_IMG_2141.png (5319x3546) [30.9 MB] || ComPair_TVac_IMG_2141.jpg (5319x3546) [6.0 MB] || ComPair_TVac_IMG_2141_half.jpg (2659x1773) [1.4 MB] || ",
            "release_date": "2023-07-20T10:00:00-04:00",
            "update_date": "2023-07-25T08:45:11-04:00",
            "main_image": {
                "id": 856273,
                "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014300/a014372/ComPair_TVac_IMG_2159_searchweb.png",
                "filename": "ComPair_TVac_IMG_2159_searchweb.png",
                "media_type": "Image",
                "alt_text": "Kirschner (left), Caputo (right), and Cannady (rear) continue to harness ComPair's four main components: tracker, high-resolution low-energy calorimeter, high-energy calorimeter, and anticoincidence detector.Credit: NASA/Scott Wiessinger",
                "width": 320,
                "height": 180,
                "pixels": 57600
            }
        }
    ],
    "sources": [],
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}