{"id":6428,"date":"2025-09-10T13:46:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T13:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/ground_post\/upcoming-launch-to-boost-nasas-study-of-suns-influence-across-space\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T13:46:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T13:46:57","slug":"upcoming-launch-to-boost-nasas-study-of-suns-influence-across-space","status":"publish","type":"ground_post","link":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/ground_post\/upcoming-launch-to-boost-nasas-study-of-suns-influence-across-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Upcoming Launch to Boost NASA\u2019s Study of Sun\u2019s Influence Across Space"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Soon, there will be three new ways to study the Sun\u2019s influence across the solar system with the launch of a trio of NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) spacecraft. Expected to launch no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 23, the missions include NASA\u2019s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), NASA\u2019s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and NOAA\u2019s SWFO-L1 (Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1) spacecraft.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The three missions will launch together aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From there, the spacecraft will travel together to their destination at the first Earth-Sun Lagrange point (L1), around one million miles from Earth toward the Sun.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Three Missions Launch to Track Space Weather (Official NASA Trailer)\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7SfbQ-HxmYs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The missions will each focus on different effects of the solar wind \u2014 the continuous stream of particles emitted by the Sun \u2014 and space weather \u2014 the changing conditions in space driven by the Sun \u2014 from their origins at the Sun to their farthest reaches billions of miles away at the edge of our solar system. Research and observations from the missions will help us better understand the Sun\u2019s influence on Earth\u2019s habitability, map our home in space, and protect satellites and voyaging astronauts and airline crews from space weather impacts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The IMAP and Carruthers missions add to NASA\u2019s heliophysics fleet of spacecraft. Together, NASA\u2019s heliophysics missions study a vast, interconnected system from the Sun to the space surrounding Earth and other planets to the farthest limits of the Sun\u2019s constantly flowing streams of solar wind. The SWFO-L1 mission, funded and operated by NOAA, will be the agency\u2019s first satellite designed specifically for and fully dedicated to continuous, operational space weather observations.<\/p>\n<p>As a modern-day celestial cartographer, IMAP will investigate two of the most important overarching issues in heliophysics: the interaction of the solar wind at its boundary with interstellar space and the energization of charged particles from the Sun.<\/p>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/imap\/\">IMAP mission<\/a> will principally study the boundary of our heliosphere \u2014 a huge bubble created by the solar wind that encapsulates our solar system \u2014 and study how the heliosphere interacts with the local galactic neighborhood beyond. The heliosphere protects the solar system from dangerous high-energy particles called galactic cosmic rays. Mapping the heliosphere\u2019s boundaries helps scientists understand our home in space and how it came to be habitable.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIMAP will revolutionize our understanding of the outer heliosphere,\u201d said David McComas, IMAP mission principal investigator at Princeton University in New Jersey. \u201cIt will give us a very fine picture of what&#8217;s going on out there by making measurements that are 30 times more sensitive and at higher resolution than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The IMAP mission will also explore and chart the vast range of particles in interplanetary space. The spacecraft will provide near real-time observations of the solar wind and energetic particles, which can produce hazardous conditions not only in the space environment near Earth, but also on the ground. The mission\u2019s data will help model and improve prediction capabilities of the impacts of space weather ranging from power-line disruptions to loss of satellites.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/carruthers-geocorona-observatory\/\">Carruthers Geocorona Observatory<\/a>, a small satellite, will launch with IMAP as a rideshare. The mission was named after\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/general\/nasa-names-mission-in-honor-of-dr-george-r-carruthers-visionary-behind-first-moon-based-telescope\/\">Dr. George Carruthers<\/a>, creator of the Moon-based telescope that captured the first images of Earth\u2019s exosphere, the outermost layer of our planet\u2019s atmosphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Carruthers mission will build upon Dr. Carruthers\u2019 legacy by charting changes in Earth\u2019s exosphere. The mission\u2019s vantage point at L1 offers a complete view of the exosphere not visible from the Moon\u2019s relatively close distance to Earth. From there, it will address fundamental questions about the nature of the region, such as its shape, size, density, and how it changes over time.<\/p>\n<p>The exosphere plays an important role in Earth\u2019s response to space weather, which can impact our technology, from satellites in orbit to communications signals in the upper atmosphere or power lines on the ground. During space weather storms, the exosphere mediates the energy absorption and release throughout the near-Earth space environment, influencing strength of space weather disturbances. Carruthers will help us better understand the fundamental physics of our exosphere and improve our ability to predict the impacts of the Sun\u2019s activity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll be able to create movies of how this atmospheric layer responds when a solar storm hits, and watch it change with the seasons over time,\u201d said Lara Waldrop, the principal investigator for the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Distinct from NASA\u2019s research satellites, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/swfo-l1\/\">SWFO-L1<\/a> will be an operational satellite, designed to observe solar activity and the solar wind in real time to provide critical data in NOAA\u2019s mission to protect the nation from environmental hazards.\u00a0SWFO-L1\u00a0will serve as an early-warning beacon for potentially damaging space weather events that could impact our technology on Earth. SWFO-L1\u00a0will observe the Sun\u2019s outer atmosphere for large eruptions, called\u00a0coronal mass ejections,\u00a0and measure the solar wind\u00a0upstream from Earth\u00a0with a state-of-the-art suite of instruments and processing system.<\/p>\n<p>This mission is the first of a new generation of NOAA space weather observatories dedicated to 24\/7 operations, working to avoid gaps in continuity.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSWFO-L1 will be an amazing deep-space mission for NOAA,\u201d said Dimitrios Vassiliadis, SWFO program scientist at NOAA. \u201cThanks to its advantageous location at L1, it will continuously monitor the solar atmosphere while measuring the solar wind and its interplanetary magnetic fields well before it impacts Earth \u2014 and transmit these data in record time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With\u00a0SWFO-L1\u2019s enhanced performance, unobstructed views, and minimal delay between observations and data return, NOAA\u2019s Space Weather Prediction Center forecasters will give\u00a0operators\u00a0improved lead\u00a0time\u00a0required to\u00a0take precautionary actions that protect vital infrastructure, economic interests, and national security on Earth and in space.<\/p>\n<p><strong>By Mara Johnson-Groh<\/strong><br \/><strong>NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/science-research\/heliophysics\/upcoming-launch-to-boost-nasas-study-of-suns-influence-across-space\/?rand=6349\" target=\"_blank\">Source link <\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soon, there will be three new ways to study the Sun\u2019s influence across the solar system with the launch of a trio of NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) spacecraft. Expected to launch no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 23, the missions include NASA\u2019s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), NASA\u2019s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and NOAA\u2019s SWFO-L1 (Space Weather&hellip;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":99021,"featured_media":6429,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[394,396,393,331,391,388,395,392],"ground_category":[137,140],"class_list":["post-6428","ground_post","type-ground_post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-boost","tag-influence","tag-launch","tag-nasas","tag-space","tag-study","tag-suns","tag-upcoming","ground_category-1-grounds-science","ground_category-1-3-discover-solar"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/assets.science.nasa.gov\/dynamicimage\/assets\/science\/cds\/ciencia\/sistema-solar\/2025\/IMAP-illustration.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_post\/6428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_post"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ground_post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_post\/6428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6428"},{"taxonomy":"ground_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_category?post=6428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}