Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) Updates and Discussion

[Chris Bergin]

January 03, 2017
RELEASE 17-002
NASA Selects Mission to Study Black Holes, Cosmic X-ray Mysteries

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.

For more information about the Explorers program, visit:

http://explorers.gsfc.nasa.gov

For information about NASA, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

-end-

Did a google search for the image of it, and got this.....interesting!

[Star One]

NASA selects X-ray astronomy mission

GRAPEVINE, Texas — NASA has selected an X-ray astronomy spacecraft to study black holes and other astronomical phenomena as the next flight in a program of small astrophysics missions, the agency announced Jan. 3.

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft, scheduled for launch in late 2020, will be a small spacecraft with three telescopes designed to measure the polarization of X-rays. Measuring how the X-rays are polarized can provide insights into the high-temperature environments where they are created.

“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,” Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s astrophysics division, said in a statement. “XPE will open a new window on the universe for astronomers to peer through.”

- See more at: http://spacenews.com/nasa-selects-x-ray-astronomy-mission/#sthash.1eM7GROI.dpuf

[bolun]

- IXPE: https://wwwastro.msfc.nasa.gov/ixpe/

- NSF thread: NASA's Astrophysics Small Explorer (SMEX): 2020 mission

[zubenelgenubi]

Cross-post:

July 08, 2019
CONTRACT RELEASE C19-018
NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Groundbreaking Astrophysics Mission
 
NASA has selected SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the agency’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission, which will allow astronomers to discover, for the first time, the hidden details of some of the most exotic astronomical objects in our universe. 

The total cost for NASA to launch IXPE is approximately $50.3 million, which includes the launch service and other mission-related costs.

IXPE measures polarized X-rays from objects, such as black holes and neutron stars to better understand these types of cosmic phenomena and extreme environments.

The IXPE mission currently is targeted to launch in April 2021 on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A in Florida. IXPE will fly three space telescopes with sensitive detectors capable of measuring the polarization of cosmic X-rays, allowing scientists to answer fundamental questions about these turbulent environments where gravitational, electric and magnetic fields are at their limits.

NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage the SpaceX launch service. The IXPE project office is located at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama and is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about NASA programs and missions, visit: http://www.nasa.gov

IXPE/Falcon 9 launch thread

[Targeteer]

Facebook Post

Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics

Ball Aerospace Completes Critical Design Review of LASP-operated IXPE Mission

The mission critical design review of NASA's Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) space-based astrophysics observatory was recently completed at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. The IXPE mission is led by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, with support from Ball Aerospace, the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and other partners.

LASP will provide mission operations for IXPE, a Small Explorer, or SMEX mission, which is part of NASA's Astrophysics Explorer Program.

Once launched in 2021, IXPE will measure the polarization of cosmic X-rays to improve our understanding of the fundamental physics of extreme and exotic objects in the universe, such as black holes.

Read the full release: https://www.ball.com/aerospace/newsroom/detail?newsid=123972.

[zubenelgenubi]

Cross-post:

NASA LAUNCH SERVICES II - SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES. MOD 137: REVISES THE IMAGING X-RAY POLARIMETRY EXPLORER (IXPE) LAUNCH DATE FROM MAY 31, 2021 TO SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 AND TO PROVIDE INCREMENTAL FUNDING.

This delay was not unexpected
The program has been sitting on this announcement for some time.
That launch date is less than a year from today. 
The odds of it holding are not good. IMO

What is the major factor of the delay? The spacecraft not being ready? SpaceX issues? Covid?

spaceflightnow, July 2, 2020, by Stephen Clark:
"Coronavirus work stoppage likely to delay launch of NASA X-ray astronomy mission"

As stated in the linked article it’s mostly the CoVid shutdown of MSFC impacting the assembly and delivery of the Multiple Mirror Modules. There was also some delay to the Italian detector modules due to travel restrictions, and probably work delays there, too.
The spacecraft build is fine. I am told that their jobs were a little easier during the MSFC shutdown because the daily status meetings were suspended.  
The article is a bit suspect. It has the old 540 km orbit altitude. It is posted above that the orbit has been raised to 600 km to increase the orbital lifetime. Lacking that makes me suspect how well sourced the article is.
There are other issues whose resolution may further impact the launch date. 

[Jansen]

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/releases/2021/nasas-imaging-x-ray-polarimetry-explorer-prepares-for-environmental-testing.html

NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer Prepares for Environmental Testing

Despite COVID-19-related hurdles, NASA's newest X-ray astronomy mission is a step closer to launch. Engineers recently completed integration of the agency's Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer, or IXPE, at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. Now, Ball will put the fully assembled observatory through a series of tests that simulate the harsh conditions the small spacecraft will encounter on its rocket trip into space in late 2021.

"Reaching this milestone is a testament to the experience, commitment, and expertise of the IXPE team and our partners around the world," said IXPE principal investigator Martin Weisskopf of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, who first conceived of the mission 30 years ago. "We're all looking forward to providing world-class science and expanding our view of the X-ray universe."

IXPE is the first small satellite mission dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from a variety of cosmic sources — from black holes to exploded stars and jets traveling near the speed of light. IXPE's polarization measurements will complement observations from other telescopes in space now, including NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, adding new details about the nature of these mysterious objects and the environments close to them.

Upon completion, the IXPE observatory will be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida, for launch from launch complex 39A on a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle.

Building IXPE during a Pandemic

A collaboration between NASA Marshall and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), IXPE consists of three identical X-ray telescopes, each containing a set of nested cylinder-shaped mirrors — known as "grazing incidence" mirrors — paired with a corresponding polarization-sensitive detector. IXPE's polarization measurements are made possible by new detector technology contributed by ASI. Marshall's responsibility was to build and calibrate the mirror assemblies and deliver them to Ball for assembly, integration, and environmental testing.

"As an international project, the IXPE team faced a lot of unexpected challenges in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Janice Houston, lead systems engineer at Marshall. "To get here has really taken a lot of teamwork and working through challenges. We have learned a lot about overcoming logistical difficulties — how to ship the hardware from one place to another during lockdown and how to remotely supervise and monitor handling and testing."

In order to keep team members safe and healthy, NASA delayed assembly and calibration of IXPE's mirror modules in mid-March, 2020. The IXPE team developed a new schedule to allow the team to reorder its assembly and testing timeline and get the spacecraft ready for launch.

The mirror assemblies left Marshall the afternoon of Sept. 9, arriving at Ball on Sept. 10 to be integrated into the spacecraft. Under normal circumstances, Marshall's mirror module assembly team would help unpack and inspect the mirror modules after shipment. Instead, the team provided Ball with written procedures and video demonstrating post-shipment inspection, resulting in a successful integration.

With integration complete, IXPE will undergo environmental testing at Ball. Though each component of the observatory has been rigorously tested during development, demonstrating that the assembled flight hardware is able to safely pass through a simulated launch environment will be another significant achievement for the mission. NASA has worked carefully with its international partners to match the testing environment precisely to what IXPE will experience both on launch day, and when operating in orbit.

More about IXPE

NASA selected IXPE as a Small Explorer mission in 2017. IXPE is a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, led by principal investigator Martin Weisskopf at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. 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.

[bolun]

Launch thread:

- SpaceX Falcon 9 : NASA IXPE : KSC LC-39A : 9 December 2021 (0600 UTC)

- https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48510.0

And NASA's web page:

- Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE)

- https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ixpe/index.html

[bolun]

Dec 9, 2021

RELEASE 21-168

NASA Launches New Mission to Explore Universe’s Most Dramatic Objects

NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission launched at 1 a.m. EST Thursday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A joint effort with the Italian Space Agency, the IXPE observatory is NASA’s first mission dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from the most extreme and mysterious objects in the universe – supernova remnants, supermassive black holes, and dozens of other high-energy objects.

“IXPE represents another extraordinary first,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Together with our partners in Italy and around the world, we’ve added a new space observatory to our fleet that will shape our understanding of the universe for years to come. Each NASA spacecraft is carefully chosen to target brand new observations enabling new science, and IXPE is going to show us  the violent universe around us – such as exploding stars and the black holes at the center of galaxies – in ways we’ve never been able to see it.”

The rocket performed as expected, with spacecraft separation taking place 33 minutes into flight. Approximately one minute later, the spacecraft unfurled its solar arrays. IXPE entered its orbit around Earth’s equator at an altitude of approximately 372 miles (600 kilometers). About 40 minutes after launch, mission operators received the first spacecraft telemetry data.

“It is an indescribable feeling to see something you’ve worked on for decades become real and launch into space,” said Martin Weisskopf, IXPE’s principal investigator at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Weisskopf came up with the idea for the spacecraft and has conducted seminal experiments in X-ray astronomy since the 1970s. “This is just the beginning for IXPE. We have much work ahead. But tonight, we celebrate!”

IXPE carries three state-of-the-art space telescopes with special polarization-sensitive detectors. Polarization is a property of light that holds clues to the environment from which the light originates. The new mission builds on and complements the scientific discoveries of other telescopes, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory, NASA’s flagship X-ray telescope. First light operations are scheduled to begin in January.

NASA Marshall manages the IXPE mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate as a project of the NASA’s Explorers Program. IXPE is an international collaboration between NASA, the Italian Space Agency, along with partners and providers in 12 other countries. Marshall built the three X-ray telescopes. The Italian Space Agency contributed IXPE’s polarization detectors. Ball Aerospace in Broomfield, Colorado, provided the spacecraft and manages spacecraft operations at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the Explorers Program.

For more information about the IXPE mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/ixpe

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-launches-new-mission-to-explore-universe-s-most-dramatic-objects

Image credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

[ChrisC]

I just finished watching NASA's coverage of the IXPE launch (which was independent of the SpaceX coverage), and was disappointed that they never explained how an X-ray mirror works.  It isn't a big shiny surface that most of us think of when we hear "mirror", rather a dense pack of concentric metal rings that barely refract the incoming X-ray photons.  This also explains that long distance required from the mirror to the focal plane.  They did a fine job explaining polarization, but nada on the mirror.  EDIT: LOL thanks Comga, I successfully baited you into replying by using the word refract instead of reflect

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_telescope#Focusing_mirrors

Also, the coverage should have placed IXPE into the context of previous X-ray missions like Chandra and NuSTAR (and bonus points for proposed missions like Lynx).

I mean, they did have 75 minutes to fill.

[Comga]

I just finished watching NASA's coverage of the IXPE launch (which was independent of the SpaceX coverage), and was disappointed that they never explained how an X-ray mirror works.  It isn't a big shiny surface that most of us think of when we hear "mirror", rather a dense pack of concentric metal rings that barely refract the incoming X-ray photons.  This also explains that long distance required from the mirror to the focal plane.  They did a fine job explaining polarization, but nada on the mirror.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_telescope#Focusing_mirrors

Also, the coverage should have placed IXPE into the context of previous X-ray missions like Chandra and NuSTAR (and bonus points for proposed missions like Lynx).

I mean, they did have 75 minutes to fill.

In fact, the mirrors don’t “refract” the light. They do reflect them, just at grazing incidence.
They are a variation of the normal Cassegrain format, with roughly a parabola followed by a hyperbola, albeit with the mirrors extended way far forward and backwards so that they look like slightly tapered and curved cylinders. Then they nest one set inside another. And they are extremely thin cylinders at that. Really marvels of optical fabrication and assembly.

If you want really weird X-ray optics, just wait for Arcus (now being proposed) with its “Silicon Pore Optics”. I could explain those if and when they get approved.

[Rondaz]

Good news coming out of LASP's #IXPE operations team.

The boom successfully deployed!!

https://twitter.com/LASPatCU/status/1471227224921542656

[Rondaz]

IXPE Unfolds its Origami Boom for Science

Jennifer Harbaugh Posted on December 16, 2021

NASA’s newest X-ray observatory – the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, or IXPE – extended its boom successfully Dec. 15, giving IXPE the ability to see high-energy X-rays. The mission, which launched on Dec. 9, is one step closer to studying some of the most energetic and mysterious places in the universe in a new way.

The IXPE observatory features three identical telescopes, each with a mirror assembly and a polarization-sensitive detector. To focus X-rays, IXPE’s mirrors need to be about 13 feet (4 meters) away from the detectors. That’s too large to fit inside some rocket fairings. So IXPE’s boom had to fold up, like origami, into a 12-inch (0.3-meter) cannister and stretch out again in orbit.

“For those of us in the space game, moving parts are always frightening,” said Martin Weisskopf, IXPE’s principal investigator at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “Right now, I’m smiling from ear to ear.”

With the boom now deployed, mission specialists are ready to focus on commissioning the telescopes, preparing them for the spacecraft’s first science.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/ixpe/2021/12/16/ixpe-unfolds-its-origami-boom-for-science/

[Rondaz]

The #IXPE mission commissioning has been successfully finished. Now they can start science observations as early as today. Starting w/Cassiopeia A, observing it for next 21 days. Cas A is a supernova remnant.

https://twitter.com/Bubbinski/status/1480651382587736068

[Rondaz]

The #IXPE optics and detectors are aligned. They couldn’t calibrate the optics completely on earth, they had to do it in orbit.

https://twitter.com/Bubbinski/status/1480651686263746561

[Rondaz]

IXPE Begins Science Operations

Alise Fisher Posted on January 13, 2022

This week, after having spent just over a month in space, IXPE began science operations. The observatory’s boom was deployed successfully on Dec. 15, and the team then spent three weeks checking out the observatory’s maneuvering and pointing abilities and aligning the telescopes. On Jan. 11, IXPE began observing its first official scientific target: Cassiopeia A. Those observations will last about three weeks.

IXPE’s first official scientific target is Cassiopeia A, or Cas A, the remains of a massive star that blew itself apart in a supernova around 350 years ago in our own Milky Way galaxy. Supernovae are filled with magnetic energy and accelerate particles to near light-speed, making them laboratories for studying extreme physics in space.

This image shows Cas A as seen by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. IXPE will provide details about Cas A’s magnetic field structure that can’t be observed in other ways. By studying the X-ray polarization, scientists can work out the detailed structure of its magnetic field and the sites where these particles pick up speed.

Credits: NASA/CXC/SAO

https://blogs.nasa.gov/ixpe/2022/01/13/ixpe-begins-science-operations/

[ChrisC]

The screenshots (ha, literally) above are from the AAS press conference, which is available on Youtube here.  The short presentation by IXPE principal investigator Martin Weisskopf starts at 4m15s, and the Q+A starts at 35m03s.

FYI this was one of about a dozen press conferences that AAS held last week.  The others can easily be found in their Youtube account, specifically this playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHhLixYnXcptKNt0racTxKtkr9g4FtbU9

[Lars-J]

It is nice to see that science observations have begun. 

Note that this image is a composite of IXPE (purple) and Chandra (Blue) imaging data.

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1493352575105703939

[Chinakpradhan]

It is nice to see that science observations have begun. 

Note that this image is a composite of IXPE (purple) and Chandra (Blue) imaging data.

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1493352575105703939

another view

[Rondaz]

IXPE Checks Out X-rays from Extreme Objects

Jennifer Harbaugh Posted on March 22, 2022

NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission, a joint effort with the Italian Space Agency, has returned data that no other spacecraft has obtained before from a few extreme cosmic objects.

Launched in December 2021, IXPE has detected polarized X-rays from three of its first six targets. Polarized X-rays carry unique details about where the light comes from and what it passes through. By combining these details with measurements of X-rays’ energy and how they change over time, we get a fuller picture of an object and how it works.

Prior to IXPE, the only cosmic object with polarized X-ray measurements was the Crab Nebula, the wreckage of a massive, exploded star whose light swept past Earth nearly 1,000 years ago. In these new observations, IXPE has confirmed the previous Crab Nebula measurements and detected X-ray polarization from a neutron star and a magnetar. A magnetar is a highly magnetic neutron star, a dense object left in the wake of a stellar explosion.

Scientists are now analyzing these preliminary data to better understand what they mean and how they fit in with other observations of these objects.

“Now in its third month of science operations, IXPE is performing as anticipated and is measuring the X-ray polarization of cosmic sources in the high-energy universe,” said Steve O’Dell, IXPE’s project scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “We are excited to see these new results, about a half-century after the pioneering work of IXPE’s principal investigator Martin Weisskopf and look forward to using this new tool to understand better the workings of neutron stars, black holes, and more.”

Weisskopf was part of a team from Columbia University that first detected polarized X-rays from the Crab Nebula in 1971 using a sounding rocket experiment. About five years later, in 1976 and 1977, the Columbia team used NASA’s eighth Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO-8) to confirm that X-rays from the Crab Nebula are polarized by a degree of almost 20 percent. IXPE measures the polarization of X-rays with higher precision, but its preliminary results agree with observations from OSO-8 and more recent measurements taken by a small satellite called PolarLight.

Another object IXPE has looked at recently is the magnetar 4U 0142+61 in the constellation Cassiopeia. The third object that IXPE detected polarized X-rays is the binary accreting neutron star system Hercules X-1, which consists of a low-mass star and a neutron star that is pulling material off it.

The other targets for IXPE’s first science observations were the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A and the active galaxy Centaurus A, as well as the Sagittarius A Complex at the center of the Milky Way, a region that includes the black hole Sagittarius A*. Preliminary analyses have not detected X-ray polarization from these objects so far, but more detailed analyses are underway.

IXPE’s first datasets are now publicly available through NASA’s High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center, managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/ixpe/2022/03/22/ixpe-checks-out-x-rays-from-extreme-objects/