High Resolution Coronal Imager

[1] It was launched aboard a Black Brant IX sounding rocket from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

Its optics were designed at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama with assistance from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and L-3Com/Tinsley Laboratories of Richmond, California.

It was based on a customized version of the E2V CCD203 from Lockheed Martin, which is a very large 4 channel back illuminated 4,000 × 4,000 pixel charge-coupled device (CCD).

[2] The first flight lasted for 10 minutes, reached an altitude of 283 kilometres (176 mi) and the telescope captured 165 images of a large active region.

[3] It was the first time scientists were able to directly observe magnetic reconnection in braids, which may be the primary sources of heating in the active solar corona.

The recovering team poses for a photo with the payload before loading the instrument into a pair of U.S. Army helicopters and returning to base.
Images of the Sun's million degree corona, including images of the magnetic braids (left hand side).