NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer Mission Set to Launch From Kennedy Space Center Dec. 9
By NASA information center // December 1, 2021
Live launch coverage can be seen on Space Coast Daily TV, launch set for 1 a.m. ET
(NASA) – The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission, the first satellite dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from a variety of cosmic sources, such as black holes and neutron stars, is scheduled to launch no earlier than 1 a.m. EST Thursday, Dec. 9, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Live launch coverage can be seen on Space Coast Daily TV.
The IXPE spacecraft includes three space telescopes with sensitive detectors capable of measuring the polarization of cosmic X-rays, allowing scientists to answer fundamental questions about extremely complex environments in space where gravitational, electric, and magnetic fields are at their limits.
The project is a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency.
NASA selected IXPE is a Small Explorer mission in 2017. NASA’s Launch Services Program is managing this launch. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the IXPE mission.
Ball Aerospace, headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, manages spacecraft operations with support from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the Explorers Program for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
The U.S. Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45 provides range support for this launch. SpaceX is providing the launch vehicle for this mission.
Related Story:WATCH: NASA’s New X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer to Unlock the Secrets of Extreme Cosmic Objects
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