What is the approved budget of Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer?
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is the NASA Small Explorer space observatory, led by principal investigator Martin Weisskopf of Marshall Space Flight Center with the Italian Space Agency providing the X-ray polarization detectors and Ball Aerospace the spacecraft, selected on 3 January 2017 and launched on 9 December 2021 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 into a 600 km circular orbit for a two-year science mission. NASA's Marshall center states that the cost of IXPE will be 188 million dollars, covering the launch vehicle and post-launch operations and data analysis, and NASA put its launch cost at about 50.3 million.
Approved budget
$188 million
Cost basis: 2017
NASA/MSFCPublic domain
Cost evidence
Basis of the published figure
Approved budget2017
Project record
Opened or launched
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center9 December 2021