Tag: with NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft atop

Fun Facts About NASA’s IXPE Mission

IXPE spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket
NASA’s IXPE is the second Launch Services Program mission to fly a previously flown Falcon 9 booster. Photo credit: SpaceX

Here are some fun facts you may not know about NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission:

  • IXPE will study targets over a broad range of types of astronomical X-ray sources with emphasis on black holes and neutron stars.
  • The mission will accomplish, for the first time, high-sensitivity measurements of the polarization of X-rays coming from some of the most exciting types of astronomical objects – neutron stars and black holes.
  • The mission will accomplish, for the first time, imaging X-ray polarization measurements from extended objects such as exploded stars and jets attached to super-massive black holes.
  • IXPE is the first Launch Services Program (LSP) mission to launch from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A.
  • The mission involves the first use of Kennedy’s Launch Control Center Firing Room 4 for the launch of an LSP mission.
  • IXPE is the second LSP mission to fly a previously flown Falcon 9 booster.

Stay right here for continued blog coverage, or tune in to NASA Television, the NASA app, or the agency’s website, which started at 12:30 a.m. EST, for live broadcast coverage of IXPE launch day activities. Launch is set for 1 a.m. EST from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Welcome to Live Coverage of the IXPE Launch!

IXPE spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket on launch pad
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, carrying NASA’s IXPE spacecraft, stands ready at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. Image credit: NASA

Happy late Wednesday evening, and welcome to live coverage of NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft mission from Florida’s Space Coast!

Standing tall atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, IXPE is set to lift off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in just about 90 minutes (1 a.m. EST, Thursday, Dec. 9). The Launch is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy.

Stay right here for a live blog that will take you straight through the launch day events. Or, tune in to NASA Television, the NASA app, or the agency’s website, starting at 12:30 a.m. EST, for a live broadcast.

It has been all good news on the weather front thus far, but we will keep you posted on any updates from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron prior to launch of NASA’s first mission dedicated to measuring X-ray polarization.