SpaceX and NASA Secure $69M Contract for Space Telescope Launch Mission Goals Detailed

After awarding SpaceX the contract to decommission the ISS, NASA has once again chosen Elon Musk's company for an upcoming astronomy mission scheduled for August 2027.

NASA announced on Tuesday, June 2, that it has awarded SpaceX a $69 million contract to launch the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) spacecraft into low Earth orbit. The COSI mission, part of NASA's Small Explorer (SMEX) program selected in 2021, aims to study high-energy gamma-ray light sources in the universe.

Using SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, the mission will lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA. COSI is designed to detect soft gamma rays and explore their sources within the galaxy and beyond. It will investigate energetic phenomena such as the creation and annihilation of matter and antimatter, as well as the final stages of stars' lives.

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NASA highlighted that COSI will also study the origins of galactic positrons in the Milky Way, locate nucleosynthesis sites, analyze gamma-ray polarization, and identify multi-messenger source counterparts.

Originally scheduled for a 2025 launch, budget constraints prompted NASA to delay COSI to 2027, extending Phase B design work to manage financial pressures. The agency did not disclose the number of companies competing for the launch contract due to sensitivity concerns.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, renowned as the most active in the industry, has already completed 67 launches this year. The NASA-SpaceX collaboration for the COSI mission involves partners like the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory, the University of California, San Diego, the Naval Research Laboratory, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and Northrop Grumman.

In addition to COSI, NASA has tasked SpaceX with the deliberate deorbiting of the International Space Station (ISS) by 2030, using a "Deorbit Vehicle" to guide the station safely back into Earth's atmosphere after its retirement.