美国宇航局授予太空探索技术公司一份合同,发射一个先进的新天文台,这将使科学家能够以前所未有的细节研究宇宙中一些最奇异的物体。
据美国航天局称,成像x光偏振探测仪(IXPE)是一个空间天文台,旨在收集来自黑洞和中子星等极端现象的偏振光数据(仅限于一个平面),这些极端现象是当大质量恒星爆炸成超新星时留下的密度惊人的致密物体。
据TechCrunch报道,IXPE还将被证明有助于研究活动星系核、磁星(一种磁场特别强的中子星)和脉冲星风星云(超新星残骸中发现的星云)等现象。
IXPE由三个相同的空间望远镜组成,配备了灵敏的探测器技术,能够探测在这些物体周围观察到的极端引力、电场和磁场。
总的来说,这项任务合同价值约为5030万美元,包括发射SpaceX公司猎鹰9号火箭的相关费用。
目前,IXPE计划于2021年4月在佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角肯尼迪航天中心39A综合大楼发射。
太空探索公司总裁兼首席运营官格温·肖特韦尔在一份声明中说:“太空探索公司很荣幸美国航天局继续信任我们经过验证的运载火箭,能够将重要的科学有效载荷送入轨道。”新闻周刊。“IXPE将作为SpaceX在美国宇航局发射服务计划下的第六项合同任务,其中两项于2016年和2018年成功发射,提高了该机构的科学观测能力。”
2019年3月2日,在佛罗里达州肯尼迪航天中心,太空探索技术公司猎鹰9号火箭在演示1号任务中与该公司的乘员龙飞船一起起飞。吉姆·沃森/法新社/盖蒂图片社
美国宇航局希望为期两年的IXPE任务将有助于实现其科学理事会的目标之一,“探索我们宇宙的起源和命运,包括黑洞的性质、暗能量、暗物质和重力。”
航天局表示,IXPE将把以前唯一的x光旋光仪——轨道太阳天文台8号上的旋光仪——的灵敏度提高两个数量级。
根据发表在杂志上的一项研究物理学的结果,IXPE将通过同时将偏振添加到当前测量的x光源属性阵列(能量、时间和位置)来扩展“观察空间”。因此,IXPE将为理解天体物理物体,特别是极端物理条件下的系统中如何产生x光辐射开辟新的维度。”
美国宇航局已经向太空探索公司授予了几份发射合同。“迄今为止,太空探索公司已经完成了74项猎鹰9号和猎鹰重型任务,包括美国宇航局发射服务项目的两项任务,杰森-3号和苔丝号,”太空探索公司发言人詹姆斯·格里森说新闻周刊。"除了IXPE之外,SpaceX未来的发射清单还包括美国宇航局的LSP任务."
上个月,该公司完成了马斯克所说的“最困难”的任务当它为国防部的太空测试计划2发射大量科学有效载荷进入太空时。火箭总共在三个不同的轨道上部署了24颗卫星,任务持续了六个多小时。
下图由提供Statista,重点介绍了SpaceX自2006年以来的发射情况。
太空十号自2006年发射。
NASA has awarded SpaceX a contract to launch an advanced new observatory that will enable scientists to study some of the most exotic objects in the universe in unprecedented detail.
According to the space agency, the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a space observatory that's designed to collect polarized (restricted to a single plane) X-ray light data from extreme phenomena such as black holes and neutron stars—incredibly dense, compact objects that are left behind when massive stars explode as supernovae.
IXPE will also prove beneficial in the study of phenomena such as active galactic nuclei, magnetars (a type of neutron star with a particularly powerful magnetic field) and pulsar wind nebulae (nebulae found inside the remnants of supernovae), TechCrunch reported.
IXPE consists of three identical space telescopes equipped with sensitive detector technology that will enable it to probe the extreme gravitational, electric and magnetic fields observed around such objects.
In total, the mission contract is worth around $50.3 million, which covers the costs associated with launching one of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets.
Currently, launch of the IXPE is scheduled for April 2021 from Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
"SpaceX is honored that NASA continues to place its trust in our proven launch vehicles to deliver important science payloads to orbit," Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX president and COO, said in a statement provided to Newsweek. "IXPE will serve as SpaceX's sixth contracted mission under NASA's Launch Services Program, two of which were successfully launched in 2016 and 2018, increasing the agency's scientific observational capabilities."
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard takes off during the Demo-1 mission, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 2, 2019.JIM WATSON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
NASA hopes that the two-year IXPE mission will help address one of the goals of its Science Directorate "to probe the origin and destiny of our universe, including the nature of black holes, dark energy, dark matter, and gravity."
The space agency says that IXPE will improve sensitivity over the only previous X-ray polarimeter—aboard the Orbiting Solar Observatory-8—by two orders of magnitude.
According to a study published in the journal Results in Physics, the IXPE will expand "observation space by simultaneously adding polarization to the array of X-ray source properties currently measured—energy, time, and location. IXPE will thus open new dimensions for understanding how X-ray emission is produced in astrophysical objects, especially in systems under extreme physical conditions."
NASA has already awarded several launch contracts to SpaceX. "To date, SpaceX has completed 74 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy missions, including two for NASA's Launch Services Program, Jason-3 and TESS," James Gleeson, a spokesperson for SpaceX, told Newsweek. "In addition to IXPE, SpaceX's future launch manifest includes NASA's LSP missions SWOT, Sentinel-6A, and DART."
Last month, the company completed what Musk described as its "most difficult" mission everwhen it launched a host of scientific payloads into space for the Department of Defense's (DoD) Space Test Program-2 (STP 2.) In total, the rocket deployed 24 satellites at three different orbits in a mission lasting over six hours.
The graphic below, provided by Statista, highlights SpaceX launches since 2006.
Space X launches since 2006.STATISTA
