NASA has awarded the launch services contract for the agency\u2019s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission to SpaceX. Once launched, IXPE will measure polarized X-rays from black holes, neutron stars and more. The data collected will enable astronomers to peer behind the curtain of some of the most exotic and mysterious astronomical objects in our universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The IXPE contract is part of NASA\u2019s Launch Services Program (LSP). SpaceX\nhas previously launched two LSP missions (Jason-3 and TESS) and has been\nawarded three others (SWOT, Sentinel-6A, and Dart) in addition to IXPE. This\ntrend appears to indicate the agency\u2019s growing trust in SpaceX with this latest\naward going so far as to allow the mission to be launched aboard a\nflight-proven Falon 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSpaceX is honoured that NASA continues to place its trust in our proven\nlaunch vehicles to deliver important science payloads to orbit,\u201d said SpaceX\npresident and COO Gwynne Shotwell in a statement. \u201cIXPE will serve as SpaceX\u2019s\nsixth contracted mission under NASA\u2019s LSP, two of which were sufficiently\nlaunched in 2016 and 2018, increasing the agency\u2019s scientific observational\ncapabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a launch mass of 320 kilograms, IXPE will not be much of a challenge for the SpaceX Falcon 9, which is capable of launching 22,800 kilograms to low Earth orbit. There will, as a result, be excess payload capacity at launch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At just $50.3 million, the contract is unlikely to make SpaceX much profit,\nwith a mission aboard a flight-proven Falcon 9 reportedly costing $50 million\nwithout mission-related costs. As a result, SpaceX may use the excess payload\ncapacity to launch its own Starlink satellites or an additional commercial\npayload. It is, however unclear whether or not NASA will allow additional\npayloads to share IXPE\u2019s ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The IXPE mission is expected to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in April 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About IXPE:<\/strong> NASA has awarded the launch services contract for the agency\u2019s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission to SpaceX. Once launched, IXPE will measure polarized X-rays from black holes, neutron stars and more. The data collected will enable astronomers to peer behind the curtain of some of the most exotic and mysterious astronomical objects in our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[123,68],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-3657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs-articles","tag-nasa","tag-science-technology-current-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3657"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3660,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3657\/revisions\/3660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3657"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/offerexpiration?post=3657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) will get information regarding the polarization state of light from astrophysical sources<\/strong>. This will provide insight into the X-ray production in objects such as neutron stars and pulsar wind nebulae, as well as stellar and supermassive black holes.
The launch mass of IXPE is 320 kilograms. IXPE will be launched over SpaceX FALCON 9 which is capable of launching 22,800 kilograms to low Earth orbit (LEO).<\/strong> There will also be excess payload capacity at launch.
NASA and SpaceX:<\/strong>
The IXPE mission is a part of the US space agency\u2019s Launch Services Program (LSP)<\/strong>. SpaceX has previously launched two LSP missions namely Jason-3 and TESS<\/strong>. It has also been awarded three other missions, SWOT, Sentinel-6A, and Dart by NASA earlier.
IXPE will be sixth contracted mission of SpaceX under NASA\u2019s LSP. Two of the missions were successfully launched in 2016 and 2018, increasing the agency\u2019s scientific observational capabilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"