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

[realnouns]

IXPE now scheduled for December 13, 2021
https://ixpe.msfc.nasa.gov/

[vaporcobra]

NET November 17th, 2021.

IXPE now scheduled for December 13, 2021
https://ixpe.msfc.nasa.gov/

Not terrible, that's ~26 days of delays incurred in the last ~280 days. If that degree of slippage continues for the next three months, IXPE should still launch in 2021.

[ZachS09]

IXPE nearing shipment to Florida for December 2021 launch
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/09/ixpe-nearing-shipment-for-launch/

[StraumliBlight]

LaunchPhotography

And a Falcon 9 from pad 39A will launch NASA's Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft on December 9.

[realnouns]

Was also noted by Stephen Clark

https://twitter.com/StephenClark1/status/1442576880348000257

[wannamoonbase]

Surely with a mass of 337 KG the booster must be doing a Land-landing.

It's a shame we don't see more RTLS booster landings, they are so much fun to watch with the better camera angles.

[anof]

Surely with a mass of 337 KG the booster must be doing a Land-landing.

It's a shame we don't see more RTLS booster landings, they are so much fun to watch with the better camera angles.

IXPE is going to 0 degree inclination orbit. I believe that will use most of the performance of the Falcon 9. Maybe someone had done a simulation and can figure how much margin there is for landing.

[soltasto]

A 28.5° inclination change at 540 km should take about 3.7 km/s of delta v.
However they will probably launch into a transfer orbit with a ~185km perigee and ~540km apogee, with the apogee being very near the descending node so that the inclination change can be more efficient.

[Comga]

Surely with a mass of 337 KG the booster must be doing a Land-landing.

It's a shame we don't see more RTLS booster landings, they are so much fun to watch with the better camera angles.

IXPE is going to 0 degree inclination orbit. I believe that will use most of the performance of the Falcon 9. Maybe someone had done a simulation and can figure how much margin there is for landing.

I posted member Onespeed’s calculation of 1800 kg back at the start of this thread.

We can ask OneSpeed what was the assumed injection altitude.

The first post also lists the contract value of $50.3M
This means SpaceX is being as efficient as possible, which suggests an RTLS landing that avoids sending out an ASDS.

[tbellman]

The first post also lists the contract value of $50.3M
This means SpaceX is being as efficient as possible, which suggests an RTLS landing that avoids sending out an ASDS.

No, it lists the total cost to NASA for launching IXPE, but that includes things outside the actual launch contract with SpaceX.

The launch contract appears to be at $42,049,411, according to this post by gongora earlier in the thread.

[scr00chy]

The first post also lists the contract value of $50.3M
This means SpaceX is being as efficient as possible, which suggests an RTLS landing that avoids sending out an ASDS.

I think the low price might have had more to do with making sure to beat out Pegasus. IIRC, Pegasus XL launch was going for around $50 million at the time. So I think SpaceX just reduced their usual margin in order to ensure it had the lowest cost offer.

[Comga]

The first post also lists the contract value of $50.3M
This means SpaceX is being as efficient as possible, which suggests an RTLS landing that avoids sending out an ASDS.

No, it lists the total cost to NASA for launching IXPE, but that includes things outside the actual launch contract with SpaceX.

The launch contract appears to be at $42,049,411, according to this post by gongora earlier in the thread.

That does NOT contradict my statements or change the conclusion, but thank you anyways.
It may, in fact, reinforce the idea that SpaceX has to be extremely efficient to launch for $42M.
There are rules against predatory pricing (Hear that Mr. Rogozin?)
So that still suggests that SpaceX would want to do a RTLS to minimize expenditures and be maximally efficient.

Pegasus was, AIUI, over $60M, with poor launch readiness.
They were an easy mark for SpaceX to surpass.

[StraumliBlight]

IXPE's launch window is 0600-0730 GMT (1:00-2:30 a.m. EST) [updated on October 19th].

[gongora]

https://twitter.com/StephenClark1/status/1450870023887671302

NASA launch director Omar Baez confirms that the previously-flown Falcon 9 booster on IXPE will target a drone ship landing.

The IXPE launch Dec. 9 will be followed by the CRS-24 mission, also from 39A, on Dec. 21.

More launch schedule updates here: https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/

[Comga]

Stephen Clark
@StephenClark1
NASA launch director Omar Baez confirms that the previously-flown Falcon 9 booster on IXPE will target a drone ship landing

So much for my guesswork.
I should have asked OneSpeed to evaluate it numerically.
"Engineering is done with numbers."

[StraumliBlight]

NASA Invites Media to Launch of IXPE Mission to Study X-rays in Space

Media accreditation is open for the upcoming launch of NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission, which will measure polarized X-rays from exotic cosmic objects, such as black holes and neutron stars, to better understand these types of phenomena and extreme environments.

IXPE is scheduled to launch no earlier than Dec. 9 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

[Rondaz]

NASA’s IXPE Spacecraft to Launch Dec. 9

James Cawley Posted on October 25, 2021

NASA’s newest X-ray astronomy mission, Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), is scheduled to launch Dec. 9, 2021. IXPE will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida. The launch is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy.

IXPE will study changes in the polarization of X-ray light through some of the universe’s most extreme sources, including black holes, dead stars known as pulsars, and more. Polarization contains clues to what those environments are like and helps scientists better understand these mysterious phenomena.

IXPE is NASA’s first mission dedicated to measuring X-ray polarization.

NASA selected IXPE as a Small Explorer mission in 2017. The IXPE project is a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama manages the IXPE mission. 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.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/ixpe/2021/10/25/nasas-ixpe-spacecraft-to-launch-dec-9/

[Rondaz]

Media are invited to the launch of IXPE

This astrophysics mission is set to launch no earlier than Dec. 9 aboard a @SpaceX #Falcon9 from Space Launch Complex 39A at
@NASAKennedy:

https://twitter.com/NASA_LSP/status/1452628528978071553

[Rondaz]

Media Invited to Launch of NASA’s IXPE Mission

James Cawley Posted on October 25, 2021

Media is invited to view the launch of NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), the first satellite mission dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from a variety of cosmic sources.

IXPE is scheduled to launch

Dec. 9, 2021, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida. It is NASA’s first mission dedicated to measuring X-ray polarization.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/kennedy/2021/10/25/media-invited-to-launch-of-nasas-ixpe-mission/

[gongora]

https://twitter.com/NASA_LSP/status/1455882469186605065

Yesterday, LSP completed a successful Launch Vehicle Readiness Review for the IXPE mission! Rocket

We are proceeding toward launch on Dec. 9 from @NASAKennedy aboard a @SpaceX #Falcon9.