{"id":286387,"date":"2025-09-18T03:28:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T17:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?guid=987015450e60996f65a47582c837164e"},"modified":"2025-09-18T03:28:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T17:28:55","slug":"nasa-rideshares-integrated-ahead-of-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=286387","title":{"rendered":"NASA Rideshares Integrated Ahead of Launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\">\n<div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\">\n<div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\">\n<figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-fit \"><a href=\"https:\/\/images-assets.nasa.gov\/image\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003~large.jpg?w=1920&#038;h=1280&#038;%23038;fit=clip&#038;%23038;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" src=\"https:\/\/images-assets.nasa.gov\/image\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003~large.jpg?w=1920&amp;h=1280&amp;fit=clip&amp;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"Image shows four people wearing white protective suits, commonly known as bunny suits, standing around NASA\u2019s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow-On Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) satellite spacecraft&#039;s set to launch with NASA&#039;s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) observatory at NASA&#039;s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images-assets.nasa.gov\/image\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003~large.jpg?w=1920&amp;h=1280&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint 1920w, https:\/\/images-assets.nasa.gov\/image\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003~large.jpg?w=300&amp;h=200&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint 300w, https:\/\/images-assets.nasa.gov\/image\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003~large.jpg?w=768&amp;h=512&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint 768w, https:\/\/images-assets.nasa.gov\/image\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003~large.jpg?w=1024&amp;h=683&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint 1024w, https:\/\/images-assets.nasa.gov\/image\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003~large.jpg?w=1536&amp;h=1024&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint 1536w, https:\/\/images-assets.nasa.gov\/image\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003~large.jpg?w=400&amp;h=267&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint 400w, https:\/\/images-assets.nasa.gov\/image\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003~large.jpg?w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint 600w, https:\/\/images-assets.nasa.gov\/image\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003~large.jpg?w=900&amp;h=600&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint 900w, https:\/\/images-assets.nasa.gov\/image\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003\/KSC-20250905-PH-FMX01_0003~large.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Technicians completed integrating NASA\u2019s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow-On Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) satellite to an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter ring at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 4.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ksc-20250905-mh-fmx01-0001-imap-carruthers-and-swfo-l1-mate-won-m16579.mp4\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Integrating the rideshares<\/a> to the ring precedes the next prelaunch launch milestone: attaching NASA\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/imap\/\" rel=\"noopener\">IMAP<\/a> (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) heliosphere mapping observatory to a payload adapter that connects to the ring. This configuration allows all three spacecraft to launch atop a single SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, maximizing efficiency by sharing the ride to space.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/carruthers-geocorona-observatory\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Carruthers observatory<\/a> will capture light from Earth\u2019s geocorona, the part of the outer atmosphere that emits ultraviolet light. The observations will advance our understanding of space weather, planetary atmospheric evolution, and the long-term history of water on Earth.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nesdis.noaa.gov\/news-events\/swfo-l1-launch\" rel=\"noopener\">SWFO-L1<\/a> satellite will keep a watchful eye on the Sun and the near-Earth environment for space weather activity. It is the first NOAA satellite designed specifically for and fully dedicated to continuous space weather observations. It will serve as an early warning beacon for destructive space weather events that could impact our technological dependent infrastructure and industries.<\/p>\n<p>The spacecraft will launch together aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than 7:32 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 23, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Image credit: NASA\/Frank Michaux<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Technicians completed integrating NASA\u2019s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow-On Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) satellite to an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter ring at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 4. Integrating the rideshares to the ring precedes [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17695,15614,16350,15717,15829,18024],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-286387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-carruthers-geocorona-observatory-glide","category-goddard-space-flight-center","category-imap-interstellar-mapping-and-acceleration-probe","category-kennedy-space-center","category-launch-services-program","category-noaa-national-oceanic-and-atmospheric-administration"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=286387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286388,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286387\/revisions\/286388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=286387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=286387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=286387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}