SpaceX wins $50-mn NASA contract for black hole research mission

NASA has awarded an over $50-million contract to Elon Musk-led aerospace startup SpaceX to launch its Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission. The IXPE mission is aimed towards studying polarised light from sources including supermassive black holes, neutron stars and pulsar wind nebulae. The mission is presently scheduled to launch in April 2021 on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from Florida.