NASA Selects Mission To Study Black Holes, Cosmic X-Ray Mysteries | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-06.02.25

Airborne-NextGen-06.03.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.04.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-06.05.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.06.25

Sun, Jan 08, 2017

NASA Selects Mission To Study Black Holes, Cosmic X-Ray Mysteries

Mission Slated For Launch In 2020

NASA has selected a science mission that will allow astronomers to explore, for the first time, the hidden details of some of the most extreme and exotic astronomical objects, such as stellar and supermassive black holes, neutron stars and pulsars.

Objects such as black holes can heat surrounding gases to more than a million degrees. The high-energy X-ray radiation from this gas can be polarized – vibrating in a particular direction. The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission will fly three space telescopes with cameras capable of measuring the polarization of these cosmic X-rays, allowing scientists to answer fundamental questions about these turbulent and extreme environments where gravitational, electric and magnetic fields are at their limits.

“We cannot directly image what’s going on near objects like black holes and neutron stars, but studying the polarization of X-rays emitted from their surrounding environments reveals the physics of these enigmatic objects,” said Paul Hertz, astrophysics division director for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “NASA has a great history of launching observatories in the Astrophysics Explorers Program with new and unique observational capabilities. IXPE will open a new window on the universe for astronomers to peer through. Today, we can only guess what we will find.”

NASA's Astrophysics Explorers Program requested proposals for new missions in September 2014. Fourteen proposals were submitted, and three mission concepts were selected for additional review by a panel of agency and external scientists. NASA determined the IXPE proposal provided the best science potential and most feasible development plan.

The mission, slated for launch in 2020, will cost $188 million. This figure includes the cost of the launch vehicle and post-launch operations and data analysis. Principal Investigator Martin Weisskopf of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will lead the mission. Ball Aerospace in Broomfield, Colorado, will provide the spacecraft and mission integration. The Italian Space Agency will contribute the polarization sensitive X-ray detectors, which were developed in Italy.

NASA's Explorers Program provides frequent, low-cost access to space using principal investigator-led space science investigations relevant to the agency’s astrophysics and heliophysics programs. The program has launched more than 90 missions, including Explorer 1 in 1958, which discovered the Van Allen radiation belts around the Earth, and the Cosmic Background Explorer mission, which led to a Nobel Prize. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the Explorers Program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

(Image provided with NASA news release)

http://explorers.gsfc.nasa.gov

Advertisement

More News

Citation Operators Get Another Flight Data Connection for QA

LinxUs System Adds Capabilities for Data-Driven Operators Textron Aviation announced another option for operators processing their post-flight data, adding interoperability with GE>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (06.01.25)

Aero Linx: The de Havilland Moth Club Ltd The de Havilland Moth Club evolved from a belief that an association of owners and operators of Moth aeroplanes should be formed to create>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Bellanca 8GCBC

(Pilot) Inadvertently Applied Excessive Braking Action, And The Airplane Nosed Over Analysis: The pilot reported that, while landing at a remote, rough and uneven airstrip in a tai>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (06.01.25)

“MCADT is committed to rapidly integrating armed first-person view drones into the FMF, enhancing small-unit lethality and providing organic capabilities that warfighters cur>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: High-Speed Match-up - Venom and GE Rebirth A Legend

From 2017 (YouTube Edition): Major Engine Supplier Joins Forces With Small Aircraft Manufacturer… GE recently made an agreement with Venom Aircraft to supply engines for the>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC