NASA awards SpaceX $50M deal
Company will launch telescopes from Kennedy Space Center
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will be responsible for launching a new mission for NASA in two years that will carry three sensitive telescopes to space, allowing scientists to closely study certain astronomical objects for the first time.
NASA announced Monday it was awarding SpaceX $50.3 million to launch the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer, or IXPE mission. The mission is scheduled to take off in April 2021 from Kennedy Space Center’s launch complex 39A.
The telescopes going to space will measure polarized X-rays from objects like black holes and neutron stars, allowing scientists to better understand those unique environments.
The mission is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program at the Cape. SpaceX has already launched two missions for that program — the Jason-3 science satellite in 2016 and the planet finder TESS in 2018 — and is now contracted for six total.
IXPE will take off on a previously flown Falcon 9 rocket.
“SpaceX is honored that NASA continues to place its trust in our proven launch vehicles to deliver important science payloads to orbit,” said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and COO, in a statement.
A newly released audit of Visit Orlando, the region’s tourism cheerleader, recommends imposing transparency requirements on the tax-funded agency.
Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond said the year-long examination didn’t uncover evidence of misappropriation of funds.
But the audit released Wednesday suggested transparency requirements would better safeguard the bed-tax revenues used to promote Mickey Mouse, Harry Potter, Star Wars and other attractions,