{"id":290704,"date":"2025-09-24T23:56:54","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T13:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?guid=a6cd6e69c8accab3ec82218b99644fc4"},"modified":"2025-09-24T23:56:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T13:56:54","slug":"nasa-noaa-launch-three-spacecraft-to-map-suns-influence-across-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=290704","title":{"rendered":"NASA, NOAA Launch Three Spacecraft to Map Sun\u2019s Influence Across Space"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"A<\/a><\/figure>
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA\u2019s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) missions launches from the agency\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025.<\/div>\n
Credit: NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launched three new missions Wednesday to investigate the Sun\u2019s influence across the solar system.<\/p>\n

At 7:30 a.m. EDT, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying the agency\u2019s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and NOAA\u2019s SWFO-L1 (Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1) spacecraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis successful launch advances the space weather readiness of our nation to better protect our satellites, interplanetary missions, and space-faring astronauts from the dangers of space weather throughout the solar system,\u201d said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy, \u201cThis insight will be critical as we prepare for future missions to the Moon and Mars in our endeavor to keep America first in space.\u201d<\/p>\n

These missions will help safeguard both our ground-based technology, as well as our human and robotic space explorers from the harsh conditions known of space weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the United States prepares to send humans back to the Moon and onward to Mars, NASA and NOAA are providing the ultimate interplanetary survival guide to support humanity\u2019s epic journey along the way,\u201d said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. \u201cOur scientific discoveries and technical innovations directly feed into our know-before-you-go roadmap to ensure a prepared, safe, and sustained human presence on other worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

New science to protect society<\/strong><\/p>\n

Each mission will investigate different effects of space weather and the solar wind, which is a continuous stream of particles emitted by the Sun, from their origins at the Sun all the way outward to interstellar space.<\/p>\n

“These three unique missions will help us get to know our Sun and its effects on Earth better than ever before,\u201d said Joe Westlake, Heliophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters. \u201cThis knowledge is critical because the Sun’s activity directly impacts our daily lives, from power grids to GPS. These missions will help us ensure the safety and resilience of our interconnected world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IMAP mission<\/a> will chart the boundary of the heliosphere, a bubble inflated by the solar wind that shields our solar system from galactic cosmic rays \u2014 a key protection that helps make our planet habitable. In addition, the spacecraft will sample and measure solar wind particles streaming outward from the Sun, as well as energetic particles streaming inward from the boundary of our solar system and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cIMAP will help us better understand how the space environment can harm us and our technologies, and discover the science of our solar neighborhood,\u201d said David McComas, IMAP mission principal investigator at Princeton University in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory<\/a> is the first mission dedicated to recording changes in the outermost layer of our atmosphere, the exosphere, which plays an important role in Earth\u2019s response to space weather. By studying the geocorona \u2014 the ultraviolet glow given off by the exosphere when sunlight shines on it \u2014 the Carruthers mission will reveal how the exosphere responds to solar storms and how it changes with the seasons. The mission builds on the legacy of the first instrument to image the geocorona, which flew to the Moon aboard Apollo 16 and was built and designed by scientist, inventor, engineer, and educator Dr. George Carruthers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Carruthers mission will show us how the exosphere works and will help improve our ability to predict the impacts of solar activity here on Earth,\u201d said Lara Waldrop, the mission\u2019s principal investigator at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.<\/p>\n

The first of its kind, NOAA\u2019s SWFO-L1<\/a> is designed to be a full-time operational space weather observatory. By keeping a watchful eye on the Sun\u2019s activity and space conditions near Earth 24\/7, and without interruption or obstruction, SWFO-L1 will provide quicker and more accurate space weather forecasts than ever before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first of a new generation of NOAA space weather observatories dedicated to 24\/7 operations, working to avoid gaps in continuity. Real-time observations from SWFO-L1 will give operators the trusted data necessary to issue advance warnings so that decision-makers can take early action to protect vital infrastructure, economic interests, and national security on Earth and in space. It\u2019s about safeguarding society against space weather hazards,\u201d said Richard Ullman, deputy director of the Office of Space Weather Observations at NOAA. <\/p>\n

Next steps<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the hours after launch, all three spacecraft successfully deployed from the rocket and sent signals to Earth to confirm they\u2019re active and working well.<\/p>\n

Over the next few months, the spacecraft will make their way to their destination \u2014 a location between Earth and the Sun, about a million miles from Earth, called Lagrange point 1 (L1). They should arrive by January and, once their instrument checkouts and calibrations are complete, begin their missions to better understand space weather and protect humanity.<\/p>\n

David McComas of Princeton University leads the IMAP mission with an international team of 27 partner institutions. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, built the spacecraft and will operate the mission.<\/p>\n

The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory mission is led by Lara Waldrop from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Mission implementation is led by the Space Sciences Laboratory at University of California, Berkeley, which also designed and built the two ultraviolet imagers. BAE Systems designed and built the Carruthers spacecraft.<\/p>\n

The Explorers and Heliophysics Projects Division at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the IMAP and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory missions for NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate.<\/p>\n

The SWFO-L1 mission is managed by NOAA and developed with NASA Goddard, and commercial partners. NASA\u2019s Launch Services Program<\/a>, based at NASA Kennedy, manages the launch service for the missions.<\/p>\n

To learn more about these missions, visit:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/sun<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

-end-<\/p>\n

Abbey Interrante
Headquarters, Washington
301-201-0124
abbey.a.interrante@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

Sarah Frazier
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
202-853-7191
sarah.frazier@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

Leejay Lockhart
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-747-8310
leejay.lockhart@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

John Jones-Bateman
NOAA\u2019s Satellite and Information Service, Silver Spring, Md.
202-242-0929
john.jones-bateman@noaa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

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