NASA will launch a telescope mission to spot black holes

In the wee hours of dawn last Thursday (12/09), the US space agency – NASA launched another mission called polarized x-ray imaging explorer (IXPE). It has a satellite equipped with powerful telescopes capable of measuring through X-rays into black holes. The telescope’s job is to measure X-rays emitted by black holes and neutron stars.

The launch took place at 3:00 a.m., Brasilia time, directly from the Kennedy Space Center, located in Florida, aboard a SpaceX rocket. NASA explained that the initiative is an effort between it and the Italian Space Agency, which manufactures three telescopes with this technology, seeking to monitor cosmic rays.

In fact, the spacecraft is smaller than NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, but it’s also the first dedicated to this type of project. The task has been carried out by the program Launch Services Program (LSP), which was developed in 1998. The program has the flexibility of choice by the provider of the platform to be launched. In this case, 39a were selected.

The difference in the platform is that it has a water dampening system that helps mitigate the effects of the missile since launch. In doing so, the system allows more safety for the satellite to reach orbit. About 33 minutes after launch, a file appeared Dismemberment of satellites and missiles.

Within about a minute, the platform was already activating its solar panels. According to NASA data, the satellite orbits the equator at an altitude of 600 km, and sends the first telemetry data. The group will be finished Around the most extreme objects in the universe, such as supernova remnants and streams of particles ejected from black holes.