SpaceX contracted by NASA to launch black hole and neutron star research craft

[Elderberry]

Tech Crunch by Darrell Etherington 7/8/2019

SpaceX has been awarded a new contract by NASA to launch the agency’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, or IXPE. This research spacecraft will study polarized light from sources including neutron stars, pulsar wind nebulae and supermassive black holes, and provide much more imaging than existing space-based observation resources.

The mission will help scientists in the study of magnetars (a specific type of neutron star with especially powerful magnetic fields), black holes and “Pulsar Wind Nebulae,” which are nebula that are found within the remains of supernova.

More: https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/08/spacex-contracted-by-nasa-to-launch-black-hole-and-neutron-star-research-craft/

[kidd]

The commercialization of space launches continues.
I like that NASA is calmly and quietly getting out of the way. Its a smaller government, in a small way.

[rustynail]

Might be some irony in that title.