NASA awarded Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) a firm-fixed-price contract valued at approximately $69 million to launch the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), a wide-field gamma-ray telescope. NASA’s July 2, 2024 announcement targeted a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, in August 2027. That is the target stated in the announcement, not a guarantee that the launch date remains unchanged.
What NASA awarded SpaceX
The award is for launch services: SpaceX is to provide the rocket and launch service for COSI, not build the telescope or lead its science program. NASA describes the contract as firm-fixed-price and values it at approximately $69 million, including launch services and other mission-related costs. The announcement does not provide a line-item breakdown, so the figure should not be treated as the Falcon 9’s standalone price or the total cost of developing and operating COSI.
NASA’s Launch Services Program manages the launch-service side of the award. This is a government procurement for a mission launch, rather than a scientific grant to SpaceX. NASA’s award announcement identifies the selected provider and contract terms.
What COSI is designed to investigate
COSI is a compact, wide-field Compton telescope built to observe gamma rays, the highest-energy form of electromagnetic radiation. Its broad view of the sky is intended to help researchers study energetic events in the Milky Way and beyond. The mission’s objectives include several unresolved questions:
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Where galactic positrons come from
Positrons are the antimatter counterparts of electrons. COSI is designed to investigate the origin of positrons observed in the Milky Way and to study the creation and destruction of matter and antimatter. The mission may help narrow down the responsible sources and processes; the outcome is not known in advance.
How and where elements are made
Many elements are forged through nuclear processes inside stars and during explosive events. By studying gamma rays associated with these processes, COSI will seek evidence about where elements are created and what happens in the final stages of stars’ lives.
What gamma-ray polarization can reveal
Polarization describes properties of a light wave’s orientation. Measuring it in gamma rays can provide clues about the geometry of an energetic source and the magnetic fields involved. COSI is intended to measure gamma-ray polarization alongside other information about the radiation it observes.
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How gamma rays connect to other observations
COSI is also intended to help identify electromagnetic counterparts to sources found through other forms of astronomy, including gravitational-wave observations. It will not detect gravitational waves itself: the goal is to contribute gamma-ray evidence that can help researchers investigate the same events through multiple messengers.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchHow a Compton telescope observes gamma rays
Earth’s atmosphere blocks most cosmic gamma rays, so astronomers observe them with instruments above the atmosphere. In a Compton telescope, a gamma-ray photon interacts with detector material and scatters, changing direction and energy. Measurements of those interactions let the instrument infer properties of the incoming photon, including information about its direction. COSI’s name refers to this Compton-scattering approach.
NASA describes COSI as combining sensitivity, spectral and angular resolution, and sky coverage. These capabilities support its science aims, but the award notice does not provide detailed instrument specifications or a comparison with other observatories.
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Who is developing and managing the mission
COSI is a collaboration involving 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. NASA says the principal-investigator-led project-management team is based at UC Berkeley.
- COSI collaboration: Develops the science mission and telescope.
- NASA Astrophysics Explorers Program: Supports mission development.
- NASA Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center: Manages launch services.
- SpaceX: Provides the contracted Falcon 9 launch service.
This division matters: NASA’s role includes science-program support and launch procurement, while SpaceX’s responsibility under this award is to launch the mission. NASA’s Launch Services Program awards page lists COSI among upcoming missions.
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Launch vehicle, location and schedule
NASA’s July 2, 2024 award notice specified a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, targeted for August 2027. The date is a schedule target reported in that notice; launch schedules can change as spacecraft and launch preparations progress. The available information here does not establish whether NASA has since revised it.
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The award announcement names Falcon 9 but does not explain why NASA selected that vehicle, describe the selection process, or identify other bidders. It also does not establish that COSI is a replacement for another gamma-ray observatory or provide a current hardware-completion status.
What the announcement does—and does not—tell us
- It confirms: NASA selected SpaceX for a firm-fixed-price launch-services contract valued at approximately $69 million, with Falcon 9 identified as the launch vehicle.
- It does not establish: That $69 million is COSI’s full mission budget, a standalone rocket price, or a total lifecycle cost.
- It does not guarantee: An August 2027 launch. That target comes from NASA’s July 2024 announcement.
- It does not promise: A particular scientific discovery. COSI is designed to investigate questions about positrons, element formation, stellar processes, polarization, and multi-messenger sources.
NASA’s announcement is the primary source for the award, its stated value and terms, the mission partners, launch plan, and science objectives: NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Space Telescope Mission.
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