NASA - Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) patch.
Dec. 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.
Animation above: A gif of IXPE deploying in space before starting its science operations to study the cosmos. Animation Credit: NASA.
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.
Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Image Credit: NASA
“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.
Related article:
NASA Launches New Mission to Explore Universe’s Most Dramatic Objects
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/12/nasa-launches-new-mission-to-explore.html
For more information about the IXPE mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/ixpe
Animation (mentioned), Image ((mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Jennifer Harbaugh.
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