SpaceXFalcon 9 Block 5Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Falcon 9 Block 5 | X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE)
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No countdown — this launch time is not yet known to the minute.December 9, 2021Add to calendar
SpaceX's 149th launch · 32nd this year · humanity's 6,166th orbital launch attempt
The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).
Window: Dec 9, 06:00 – Dec 9, 07:30 UTC
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IXPE
Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a space observatory tasked with measuring the polarization of cosmic X-rays. This data will help to learn more about objects that emit these X-rays, such as black holes and neutron stars.
Astrophysics · Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
Booster
- B1061 · flight 5 · Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship @ Just Read the Instructions · landed · last flew Falcon 9 Block 5 | Dragon CRS-2 SpX-23 · zone record 156/157
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Updates
News
NASA’s IXPE Studies Magnetar
Scientists using NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) conducted more than 140 hours of observations of the magnetar 1E 1547-5408, shown in this Aug. 5, 2026, artist’s concept, between March and April 2025. In doing so, they may have captured empty space behaving in a way physicists have predicted for 90 years, but never directly […]
NASA’s IXPE May Have Proven 90-Year-Old Theory
A first of its kind measurement of a magnetar may have captured empty space behaving in a way physicists have predicted for 90 years, but never directly observed. The results published Wednesday in Nature. Fast facts Scientists using NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) conducted more than 140 hours of observations of the magnetar 1E […]
NASA’s Chandra and IXPE Study Pulsar in Lighthouse Nebula
This composite image, released on July 9, 2026, shows the region around a pulsar – a neutron star with a strong magnetic field that spins incredibly fast – within the Lighthouse nebula. The image contains X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in purple, X-rays from NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) in blue, and […]
NASA Space Telescope Maps Magnetic Fields of ‘Lighthouse’ Pulsar
For the first time, scientists have used NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) to directly measure the magnetic fields of PSR J1101−6101, a pulsar located within what is often referred to as the Lighthouse Nebula. The results provide new insight into the structure of some of the most extreme objects in the cosmos, as NASA […]
