{"id":24766,"date":"2021-12-08T22:38:41","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T14:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-spacex-launch-ixpe-x-ray-observatory-atop-falcon-9\/"},"modified":"2021-12-08T22:38:41","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T14:38:41","slug":"nasa-spacex-launch-ixpe-x-ray-observatory-atop-falcon-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-spacex-launch-ixpe-x-ray-observatory-atop-falcon-9\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA, SpaceX launch IXPE x-ray observatory atop Falcon 9"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NASA and SpaceX have launched the revolutionary Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) space observatory from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Thursday morning atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 1:00 a.m. EST (06:00 UTC).<\/p>\n<p>IXPE is a 325 kg, three-telescope polarized x-ray observatory. A joint venture between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, IXPE will help the astronomical community better understand the physics behind \u2014 and formation of \u2014 black holes, neutron stars, supernova remnants, magnetars, and pulsars by specifically looking at polarized x-rays surrounding the objects.<\/p>\n<p>The Falcon 9 first stage supporting this launch was B1061-5, making its fifth flight to space. The booster previously supported NASA\u2019s Crew-1, Crew-2, and CRS-23 missions to the International Space Station, as well as the SXM-8 mission in June 2021.<\/p>\n<p>The 45th Weather Squadron predicted a 90% chance of acceptable weather at the time of liftoff. The 10% concern in the forecast is due to the cumulus cloud rule.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches IXPE for NASA\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rwZVY-oLtHE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"fitvid0\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Following stage separation, B1061-5 began recovery operations, ultimately landing on SpaceX\u2019s Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS) Just Read The Instructions. The drone ship and its supporting crews was stationed approximately 652 km downrange from the Cape.<\/p>\n<p>Drone ship support and fairing recovery vessel Bob was also stationed approximately 750 km downrange and will locate the two new Falcon 9 fairing halves and recover them for return to Port Canaveral, where they will be refurbished for reuse on a later mission.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"widget-title penci-border-arrow\">See Also<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>IXPE UPDATES<\/li>\n<li>SpaceX Missions Section<\/li>\n<li>L2 SpaceX Section<\/li>\n<li>Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After reaching an initial parking orbit of 600 km (+\/- 15 km) inclined 28.5 degrees to the equator, the Falcon 9 second stage entered a coast period.<\/p>\n<p>Aerospace &amp; Defense<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Technology News<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>NASA educational resources<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>\n<p>     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n<p>Re-igniting at T+28 minutes 51 seconds, the second stage\u2019s second burned for 60 seconds to lower the orbital inclination to 0.2 degrees of true equatorial. This propellant-heavy maneuver is what prevents the first stage from being able to Return To Launch Site (RTLS) land for its recovery, despite the small spacecraft, as more propellant is needed by the second stage for the inclination change.<\/p>\n<p>So why a low Earth orbit at the equator when the Chandra X-ray observatory is in a 14,307 x 134,527 km orbit at 76.7 degrees inclination?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIXPE is in a low Earth orbit because \u2014 there are a number of reasons, but the primary reason is it\u2019s a Small Explorer,\u201d said Dr. Martin Weisskopf, Principal Investigator for the IXPE mission and chief scientist for X-ray astronomy at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center, in an interview with NASASpaceflight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIXPE cost $160 million to build. So we don\u2019t have a launch vehicle that can put us in this wonderful high orbit. So we\u2019re going into low Earth orbit, which is quite nice for another technical reason: the ground station that\u2019s provided to us by the Italian Space Agency at Malindi off the coast of Kenya is at the equator, and we\u2019re going to go to the equator.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd we also want to be at the equator because that\u2019s the lowest background. We spend the least time in the radiation belts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-82573\" class=\"size-full wp-image-82573\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ixpe_009-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ixpe_009-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ixpe_009-350x197.jpeg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ixpe_009-622x350.jpeg 622w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ixpe_009-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ixpe_009-1920x1080.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ixpe_009-1170x658.jpeg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-82573\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist\u2019s rendering of IXPE in its fully extended confirmation. (Credit: NASA)<\/p>\n<p>After performing the inclination change maneuver, the Falcon 9 second stage will orient itself for IXPE separation, scheduled to occur at the T+33 minute 22-second mark.<\/p>\n<p>After this, a 30-day commissioning phase will begin, starting with solar panel deployment so that the vehicle is power positive. This step actually dictates the night launch time for the mission, as the payload needs to be in orbital daylight at payload separation and solar panel deployment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter about a week, we will be doing the extension of the coilable boom, which is going to be very exciting, shall we say, because that has to work,\u201d said Dr. Weisskopf. \u201cNow we\u2019ve extended it on the Earth six times successfully, so we\u2019re pretty confident. But I will be holding my breath for a little bit during that extension. It doesn\u2019t take very long, about a minute or so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And if the boom were to not deploy?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the end of the mission,\u201d related Dr. Weisskopf. However, \u201cif the boom deploys and doesn\u2019t deploy quite right, we have a mechanism that we refer to as the Tip\/Tilt\/Rotate Mechanism. It will allow us to realign the x-ray telescopes with respect to the detectors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo if something, relatively, goes wrong there, we can adjust for that. But it has to deploy, but it may not deploy right or it may be that we underestimated the thermal environment and things are kind of bending around. That\u2019s not the end of the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Meet NASA\u2019s Newest Set of X-ray Eyes on the Universe\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9VgSkMDaFNk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"fitvid1\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After boom deployment, teams will work through spacecraft check out and commissioning which will take approximately seven days. Thereafter, the detectors will be brought online and calibrated.<\/p>\n<p>But IPXE is a first-of-its-kind mission. There are no known objects to really calibrate it against like optical, infrared, and even other x-ray telescopes have. So how do you calibrate IXPE?<\/p>\n<p>The answer is that part of the calibration took place on the ground, with the detectors first being calibrated in Italy and then the optics being calibrated by the Marshall Space Flight Center in a test facility that was developed specifically for IXPE.<\/p>\n<p>This ground-based calibration was used for both polarized and unpolarized x-ray sources that the telescope will observe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs part of that calibration, we also took one extra optics and one extra flight detector and put them together and repeated the x-ray calibration to see if we took the results of the optics and the results of the detector and put them together analytically, and then did it together in x-rays, then did it work? Yes, it worked. So that\u2019s wonderful,\u201d enthused Dr. Weisskopf.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn orbit, IXPE also has x-ray sources, radioactive sources, and polarized sources with the crystals and radioactive sources. So we can, onboard, recalibrate the sensitivity to polarization. And of course things like the gain or the amplitude of signals for a given energy, that kind of thing. So we do both on the ground and in orbit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 584px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=haygenwarren&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1468599444019027969&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasaspaceflight.com%2F2021%2F12%2Fixpe-launch%2F&amp;sessionId=cc76f09059fa07f7560a1101c1e47058fc45be05&amp;siteScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\" data-tweet-id=\"1468599444019027969\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we\u2019re the first real polarization instrument that\u2019s been calibrated on the ground and can verify its calibration on orbit,\u201d related Dr. Weisskopf. \u201cSo the targets where we measure polarization from, those will be standards for future experiments. But we really don\u2019t have a standard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once commissioned, IPXE will be ready for its mission to measure the polarization of x-rays. And this is done through the Gas Pixel Detectors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re the reason that this mission works!\u201d exclaimed Dr. Weisskopf. \u201cThis is the contribution from my Italian colleagues is this gas pixel detector and the fact that it\u2019s sensitive to polarization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So how does this work?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn x-ray comes in [to the three telescopes] and ionizes the [centimeter-thick dimethyl ether] gas [in the Gas Pixel Detectors]. It releases a photoelectron in the gas. That photoelectron goes off in the direction of the electric field that\u2019s attached to the x-ray photon, which is the direction of polarization. So this photoelectron goes roaring off in the gas, and it has lots of energy \u2014 essentially the energy of the x-ray, minus a little bit to get it out of the shell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it starts ionizing more and more gas as it travels along the way. So we get a track of charge produced by the x-ray. The beginning of that track is in the direction of the electric field, i.e. the direction of polarization. And what this detector does is that it images the entire track and sends that data to the ground so we can analyze it and look at the track and see what was the initial direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-82572\" class=\"wp-image-82572 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ixpe_detector.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"403\" height=\"265\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ixpe_detector.png 403w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ixpe_detector-350x230.png 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 403px) 100vw, 403px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-82572\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Overview of a Gas Pixel Detector. (Credit: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then we add up the x-rays that we got from that target, and if they\u2019re all pointing in random directions, they\u2019re unpolarized. If they\u2019re all pointing in the same direction, they\u2019re 100% polarized, and of course then anywhere in between. That\u2019s how it works, and that\u2019s just such a beautiful, beautiful concept.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To pass through the gas layer, the x-rays must first pass through a thin, beryllium window, with beryllium being the element of choice due to its transparency to x-rays (greater than 90% efficiency), and the sealing action of beryllium to hold in the dimethyl ether gas \u2014 without which there would not be a detector.<\/p>\n<p>So what is the overall point of IXPE? And how does it fit in the larger x-ray astronomy picture?<\/p>\n<p>The answer is in its name: polarimetry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re adding two new variables to the astrophysicist\u2019s tools to try to model the production of x-rays from these sources\u201d related Dr. Weisskopf. \u201cAnd that goes from black holes in binary systems to black holes at centers of galaxies to neutron stars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPolarimetry provides two more variables. So in addition to energy, position, and time, we also get the degree of polarization \u2014 is it 5% polarized, unpolarized, 100% polarized \u2014 and a position angle that is the average polarization \u2014 if it\u2019s polarized, where is the polarization vector pointing? That\u2019s all related to how the x-rays are produced.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo that\u2019s really the main thing. We\u2019re providing these two new parameters to add in to the mix. So you\u2019ve got to tell me not only why does the energy spectrum look like it does, but why is the polarization the way it is?\u201d added Dr. Weisskopf.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"IXPE Thermal Vacuum Test\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3GYFH7C50jw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"fitvid2\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And that ties perfectly \u2014 as expected \u2014 perfectly to IXPE\u2019s scientific objectives:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide simultaneous spectral, spatial, and temporal measurements,<\/li>\n<li>Determine the geometry and the emission mechanism of active galactic nuclei and microquasars,<\/li>\n<li>Find the magnetic field configuration in magnetars and determine the magnitude of the field,<\/li>\n<li>Find the mechanism for X-ray production in pulsars (both isolated and accreting) and the geometry, and<\/li>\n<li>Determine how particles are accelerated in pulsar wind nebula,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But critically, too, IXPE, also has a technical objective: to improve polarization sensitivity by two orders of magnitude over the x-ray polarimetry on the Orbiting Solar Observatory 8 (OSO-8) spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat that\u2019s doing is comparing the sensitivity of these detectors to the crystal polarimeter that I flew on OSO-8,\u201d said Dr. Weisskopf \u2014 who is also part of the ongoing Chandra X-ray Observatory mission.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a hundred times more sensitive to polarization from a source than the same source would have been with the OSO-8 crystal polarimeter. That\u2019s where that comes in. So it\u2019s proving, in a satellite flight, the viability of the technology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>IXPE\u2019s primary mission is slated to last two years, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace &amp; Technologies around their BCP-100 spacecraft bus. Of the total 325 kg spacecraft mass at liftoff, 170 kg is payload.<\/p>\n<p>Once in orbit and fully deployed, IXPE will be 1.1 m in diameter and 5.2 m tall, with a solar array wingspan of 2.7 m.<\/p>\n<p><em>(Lead image: Falcon 9 liftsoff from LC-39A for the IXPE launch. Credit: Stephen Marr for NSF)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA and SpaceX have launched the revolutionary Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) space observatory from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Thursday morning atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 1:00 a.m. EST (06:00 UTC). IXPE is a 325 kg, three-telescope polarized x-ray observatory. A joint venture between NASA and the Italian Space [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7853,479,2188,2598,428,7766,766,190,8615,2610,316,8012],"class_list":["post-24766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-f9","tag-falcon-9","tag-italy","tag-ixpe","tag-kennedy-space-center","tag-ksc","tag-lc-39a","tag-nasa","tag-polarimetry","tag-small-explorers","tag-spacex","tag-x-ray-astronomy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24766"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}