- IXPE will investigate the physics of black holes and neutron stars, two of the known universe’s most potent occurrences. Early Thursday morning (Dec. 9), SpaceX launched its 28th rocket of the year, launching an X-ray observatory for NASA into orbit.
At 1 a.m. (0600 GMT), a reused Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). This was the booster’s sixth consecutive mission.
NASA Newest IXPE X-Ray Space Telescope Is Launched
During a live broadcast of the flight, NASA TV’s launch commentator Derrol Nail remarked, “Liftoff of Falcon 9 carrying IXPE, a new set of X-ray eyes to study the wonders of our sky.” The $214 million IXPE satellite, which is approximately the size of a refrigerator, will study the physics of black holes and neutron stars, two of the universe’s most energetic phenomena. Astronomers are hoping that this satellite will offer them a new tool to help them unravel the mysteries of the cosmos.
Using three identical telescopes, IXPE will examine the polarisation of light (how a light wave oscillates relative to the wave propagation direction) from some of the universe’s most magnificent cosmic sources. Scientists are hoping that this satellite will offer them a new tool to help them unravel the mysteries of the cosmos.
Using having three telescopes, IXPE will examine the polarisation of light (how a light wave oscillates relative to the wave propagation direction) from some of the universe’s most magnificent cosmic sources. Astronomers will learn more about the architecture and factors that drive these strange celestial objects.
“What polarization informs us relies on the source,” IXPE lead investigator Martin Weisskopf told Space.com at a prelaunch news briefing on Dec. 7. “For example, dark matter doesn’t have many characteristics, but the polarimetry of X-rays produced from such objects may be utilized to identify the spin.”
IXPE would orbit at a far higher altitude than NASA’s other X-ray observing spacecraft, such as the Chandra Space Telescope. IXPE will only study light polarimetry, whereas Chandra is an imaging satellite that takes beautiful X-ray sources.
Its initial target will be the Crab Nebula, a remnant of a long-dead star. Because IXPE is designed to look at truly incredible things, the remnants of a supernova explosion are a fantastic location to start utilizing it.
The Crab Nebula has a lighthouse-like pulsating beacon, which is the corpse of the star that generated the nebula, according to Weisskopf, who spoke during a prelaunch news conference on Dec. 7.
The polarimetry of the pulsar’s light has been measured before, but not in this level of precision. The rocket launch on Thursday is the second from Cape Canaveral this week. An Atlas V rocket launched from a neighboring launch pad early Tuesday morning (Dec. 7), carrying a variety of payloads into orbit for the US government.
On Thursday, Falcon 9’s pre-dawn flight was the 131st overall and the 28th Falcon 9 flight in 2021. With two more launches planned before the end of the year, SpaceX will break its record for the most rockets flown in a single year, which is set in 2020 with 26 missions.
The drone ship, dubbed “Just Read the Instructions,” was waiting in the Atlantic Ocean to collect the rocket and transport it back to port so it could fly again.
The refrigerator-sized satellite was initially scheduled to launch on a Pegasus rocket, but NASA changed launch vehicles to save a few million dollars.
Since its start in 1998, NASA’s Flight Services Program (LSP) has coordinated 98 launches, and this is SpaceX’s sixth LSP launch. It’s also the first time an LSP mission has been launched from NASA’s iconic Pad 39A. “This is our sixth Falcon 9 flight and the first to launch from NASA grounds.”
Typically, LSP allows the launch provider to choose the launch pad from which a mission launches if the business has many possibilities. Still, Pad 39A was the right match in this situation. Because it features an effective water suppression system, it will assist lessen the rocket’s launch impacts, keeping the IXPE satellite safe on its trip to orbit.
According to Dunn and Juliana Scheiman, SpaceX’s director of civil satellite missions, the Falcon 9 is being put through its paces by IXPE’s desired orbit. To do so, it must undergo a “dog-leg” maneuver, in which it must shift orbital planes from a 28.5-degree inclination to a 0. degree equatorial orbit after launch.
This was the fifth successful touchdown for this booster and the 97th landing of a Falcon 9 rocket overall since 2015. In addition to the first stage, SpaceX will recover the payload fairings (also known as the rocket’s nose cone), which shield the cargo as it travels through the sky.
The fairings will be recovered from the ocean by one of SpaceX’s recovery ships and brought to port, repaired, and launched again. Those launches will take place on December 18 and 21, respectively, to round out a busy month on the Space Coast.
The James Webb Space Telescope, which will be launched on Dec. 22 by NASA and the European Space Agency, has gotten much attention this month. A more minor but equally transformational observatory was launched into orbit on Thursday, as a select group of astronomers watched with bated breath.
The spacecraft is anticipated to exhibit a new kind of astronomy and cost only $188 million, compared to James Webb’s $9.7 billion budget. For the first time, it will perform imaging X-ray polarimetry in space, a technique that might give astronomers insights that no other observatory could match.
X-rays are an excellent tool for studying the universe. They are released by extremely energetic objects and allow astronomers to study phenomena like superheated jets near black holes and star explosions in ways that other wavelengths, like visible light, cannot. On the other hand, they can only study x-rays from space since they are predominantly absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory of NASA and the XMM-Newton Observatory of the European Space Agency launched in 1999 are specialist X-ray space telescopes and hardware. Scientists have discovered the birthplaces of stars within gaseous nebulas and traced the spread of dark matter in clusters of galaxies using spacecraft like these, among other groundbreaking discoveries.
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