IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), SWFO-L1, GLIDE – Falcon 9 (B1096.2) – Kennedy SC LC-39A – 24.09.2025 11:30 UTC

[zandr]

https://indicator.ru/news/2018/06/02/missiya-izuchaet-geliosferu/

NASA отправит миссию для изучения гелиосферы в 2024 году
В Национальном управлении по аэронавтике и изучению космического пространства (NASA) определились с новой научной космической миссией. В 2024 году в космос отправится аппаи IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, «зонд для картирования межзвездного пространства и детектирования ускоренных частиц»). Этот аппарат предназначен для изучения своеобразного «пузыря» - потока солнечного ветра, внутри которого по Галактике перемещается наша Солнечная система.
Миссия будет запущена в точку Лагранжа L1, расположенную между Землей и Солнцем, в полутора миллионах километров от Земли. Стоимость миссии оценивается в 492 миллиона долларов США.
Аппарат будет нести с собой 10 научных инструментов и будет «ловить» те частицы межзвездного ветра, которые пробиваются через пузырь гелиосферы, а также изучать образование в ней космических лучей.
Миссия IMAP станет пятой в так называемой «программе Солнечно-Земных миссий» (Solar Terrestrial Probes Program). Перед ним NASA отправляло в космос аппараты STEREO, которые изучали солнечно-земное взаимодействие, миссию MMS, которая изучала магнитное поле Земли, еще одну «солнечную» миссию Hinode (совместно с японским космическим агентством) и аппарат TIMED, посвященный исследованию самых верхних слоев атмосферы Земли.

[tnt22]

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-mission-to-study-solar-wind-boundary-of-outer-solar-system

June 1, 2018
RELEASE 18-046

NASA Selects Mission to Study Solar Wind Boundary of Outer Solar System


This illustration shows the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe observing signals fr om the interaction of the solar wind with the winds of other stars.
Credits: NASA

NASA has sel ected a science mission planned for launch in 2024 that will sample, analyze, and map particles streaming to Earth fr om the edges of interstellar space.

The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission will help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, a sort of magnetic bubble surrounding and protecting our solar system. This region is wh ere the constant flow of particles from our Sun, called the solar wind, collides with material from the rest of the galaxy. This collision limits the amount of harmful cosmic radiation entering the heliosphere. IMAP will collect and analyze particles that make it through.

Спойлер

"This boundary is wh ere our Sun does a great deal to protect us. IMAP is critical to broadening our understanding of how this 'cosmic filter' works," said Dennis Andrucyk, deputy associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The implications of this research could reach well beyond the consideration of Earthly impacts as we look to send humans into deep space."

Another objective of the mission is to learn more about the generation of cosmic rays in the heliosphere. Cosmic rays created locally and from the galaxy and beyond affect human explorers in space and can harm technological systems, and likely play a role in the presence of life itself in the universe.

The spacecraft will be positioned about one million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away fr om Earth towards the Sun at what is called the first Lagrange point or L1. This will allow the probe to maximize use of its instruments to monitor the interactions between solar wind and the interstellar medium in the outer solar system.

The mission's principal investigator is David McComas of Princeton University. The Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, will provide project management. The mission will carry 10 science instruments provided by international and domestic research organizations and universities.

IMAP was selected following an extensive and competitive peer review of proposals submitted in late 2017. The mission is cost-capped at $492 million, excluding cost for the launch vehicle.

This is the fifth mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes (STP) Program portfolio. Others include the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), a collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency) that enabled a global view of the Sun and inner heliosphere; the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission currently investigating the fundamental process of magnetic reconnection near Earth; the solar remote sensing mission Hinode, an ongoing collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency; and the Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED), a mission observing the outermost layers of the Earth's atmosphere.

The Heliophysics Program Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the STP Program for the agency's Heliophysics Division in Washington. NASA's heliophysics missions seek to understand the Sun, and its interaction with the Earth and the solar system out to the interstellar medium, including space weather.

Last Updated: June 2, 2018
Editor: Karen Northon

[свернуть]

[zandr]

https://blogs.nasa.gov/imap/2024/12/20/nasa-targets-september-2025-launch-for-heliophysics-missions/

NASA Targets September 2025 Launch for Heliophysics Missions
NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than September 2025 for the launch of the agency's IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) spacecraft. The new date provides additional time for IMAP flight systems preparations prior to launch.
The IMAP mission will study the heliosphere, the Sun's magnetic bubble that shields our solar system, to better understand the protective boundary. To achieve this, IMAP will sample, analyze, and map particles streaming toward Earth from the edges of interstellar space. The mission also will help researchers learn more about the solar wind — the constant stream of particles from the Sun — energetic particles, and cosmic rays in the heliosphere. These particles can affect human explorers in space, harm technological systems, and likely play a role in the presence of life itself in the universe.

^{An artist's depiction of NASA's IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft (Credits: NASA/Princeton/Patrick McPike).}
In addition to IMAP, two other spacecraft will launch as rideshare missions:

• NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory will capture light from Earth's geocorona, the part of the outer atmosphere that emits ultraviolet light. Studying this will allow researchers to better understand the atmosphere and improve our ability to predict how solar activity can affect the Earth.
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On – Lagrange 1 mission will observe the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, and measure the Sun's constant stream of particles called the solar wind before it reaches Earth, to monitor the conditions that create space weather.

During their missions, all three spacecraft will orbit at Lagrange point 1, which is one of five areas where the gravity from Earth balances out the gravity from the Sun. Spacecraft that orbit at a Lagrange point need less fuel to remain in that position. Lagrange 1, which is about one million miles from Earth towards the Sun, is an excellent place to observe the Sun and provide advanced warning of space weather conditions headed towards Earth.
The IMAP spacecraft and the two rideshares will launch together on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Спойлер

Princeton University professor David J. McComas leads the IMAP mission with an international team of 25 partner institutions. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, builds the spacecraft and operates the mission. NASA's IMAP is the fifth mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program portfolio. The Explorers and Heliophysics Project Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the program for the agency's Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor Lara Waldrop. Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a mission of opportunity in the Solar Terrestrial Probes program. As the Space Weather Follow On – Lagrange 1 mission owner, NOAA provides funds and manages the program, operations, data products, and dissemination to users.
NASA's Launch Services Program, based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, manages the launch service for the missions.

[свернуть]

[zandr]

https://x.com/NASA_LSP/status/1901027932115534069

NASA's Launch Services Program  @NASA_LSP
What's next for LSP?
[_{font=Times New Roman]With the launch of NASA's SPHEREx and PUNCH missions[/font]}, we turn our focus to our next mission – IMAP along with its two rideshare companions, SWFO-L1 and Carruthers!
Launching together on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Florida NET September 2025.

[bandinferior]

https://indicator.ru/news/2018/06/02/missiya-izuchaet-geliosferu/ sprunki mustard

NASA to Send Heliosphere Study Mission in 2024
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has decided on a new scientific space mission. In 2024, the IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) will be launched into space. This device is designed to study a kind of "bubble" - a solar wind flow, inside which our Solar System moves across the Galaxy. The mission will
be launched to the L1 Lagrange point, located between the Earth and the Sun, one and a half million kilometers from the Earth. The cost of the mission is estimated at 492 million US dollars.
The device will carry 10 scientific instruments and will "catch" those particles of the interstellar wind that break through the heliosphere bubble, as well as study the formation of cosmic rays in it.
The IMAP mission will be the fifth in what is known as the Solar Terrestrial Probes Program. Before it, NASA sent into space the STEREO spacecraft, which studied solar-terrestrial interactions; the MMS mission, which studied the Earth's magnetic field; another "solar" mission, Hinode (jointly with the Japanese space agency); and the TIMED spacecraft, dedicated to studying the uppermost layers of the Earth's atmosphere.

Is this the fifth mission in NASA's Terrestrial Solar Probe program?

[Salo]

Is this the fifth mission in NASA's Terrestrial Solar Probe program?

https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=IMAP

The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) is a Solar Terrestrial Probes Program mission within NASA's Heliophysics Division.

STP-5:
https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/imap.htm

[Rocinante]

https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/upcoming-launch-to-boost-nasas-study-of-suns-influence-across-space/

Soon, there will be three new ways to study the Sun's 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's IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and NOAA's SWFO-L1 (Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1) spacecraft. 

The three missions will launch together aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's 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.

[Rocinante]

https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/5063

LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA

[Rocinante]

https://x.com/NASAKennedy/status/1965503041614086529

NASA is targeting liftoff at NET 7:32 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 23, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy

23 сентября в 11:32 UTC

[Pirat5]

https://www.spacex.com/launches/imap
SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, September 23 for launch of NASA's IMAP mission to interplanetary transfer orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff is targeted for 7:32 a.m. ET. If needed, a backup opportunity is available on Wednesday, September 24 at 7:30 a.m. ET.

IMAP, or the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, is a NASA heliophysics mission that will map the boundaries of the heliosphere: the large bubble created by the solar wind that encapsulates our entire solar system. IMAP will study how the heliosphere interacts with the local galactic neighborhood beyond and will support real-time observations of the solar wind and energetic particles, which can produce hazardous conditions near Earth. Falcon 9 will launch IMAP into a transfer orbit that will take it to the Earth-Sun L1 Lagrange Point – a gravitationally stable region 1.5 million kilometers from Earth (directly between Earth and the Sun) where the Sun and the Earth's gravity essentially balance each other. Also on board the mission is NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and NOAA's Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1, which will also head to the Earth-Sun L1 point.

A live webcast of this mission will begin about one hour prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.

This will be the second flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously supported KF-01. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

=B1096.2

[zandr]

https://www.spacex.com/launches/imap

Там же

LAUNCH, LANDING, AND DEPLOYMENT
All Times Approximate
Hr/Min/Sec   Event
00:01:12   Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)
00:02:29   1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO)
00:02:32   1st and 2nd stages separate
00:02:40   2nd stage engine starts
00:03:12   Fairing separation
00:06:37   1st stage entry burn start
00:07:07   1st stage entry burn ends
00:07:52   2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1)
00:08:20   1st stage landing burn start
00:08:45   1st stage landing
01:12:28   2nd stage engine starts (SES-2)
01:13:30   2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-2)
01:23:51   IMAP deploys
01:30:26   Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 deploys
01:36:46   Carruthers Geocorona Observatory deploys

[zandr]

https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/5063

Mission Details
IMAP
Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) will help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, a magnetic barrier surrounding our solar system. This region is where the constant flow of particles from our Sun, called the solar wind, collides with winds from other stars. This collision limits the amount of harmful cosmic radiation entering the heliosphere. IMAP will collect and map neutral particles that make it through, as well as investigate the fundamental processes of how particles are accelerated in space, from its vantage point orbiting the Sun at the Lagrange 1 point directly between the Sun and Earth.
Manufacturer: Applied Physics Laboratory
Operator: NASA
Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 900.0 kg
Sun–Earth L1

SWFO-L1
Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) is a spacecraft mission planned to monitor signs of solar storms, which may pose harm to Earth's telecommunication network. The spacecraft will be operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is planned to be placed at the Sun–Earth L1 Lagrange point, a location between the Earth and the Sun. This will allow SWFO-L1 to continuously watch the solar wind and energetic particles heading for Earth.
Manufacturer: BAE Systems
Operator: NOAA
Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 377.0 kg
Sun–Earth L1

Carruthers Geocorona Observatory
AKA GLIDE
The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, also known as GLIDE (Global Lyman-alpha Imagers of the Dynamic Exosphere), is a mission by NASA led by Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois to make unprecedented measurements of the far ultraviolet light emitted by hydrogen atoms in the Earth's outermost atmospheric layer, known as the exosphere, which extends almost halfway to the moon.
This bright emission serves as a tracer of exospheric density and spatial structure, knowledge of which is needed to advance understanding of upper atmospheric physics, particularly regarding Earth's recovery from solar-driven disturbances known as space weather.
Manufacturer: BAE Systems
Operator: NASA
Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 200.0 kg
Sun–Earth L1

Три ПН в запуске.

[zandr]

https://x.com/NASAKennedy/status/1968783631905702166

NASA's Kennedy Space Center  @NASAKennedy
Look at that beautiful stack! THREE missions fully integrated for ONE launch!
NASA's IMAP, NOAA's SWFO-L1, and NASA's Carruthers will lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9.
Launch is targeted for 7:32 am EDT on Sept. 23!

[zandr]

https://x.com/GewoonLukas_/status/1969079388705562676

Lukas C. H.  @GewoonLukas_
Following the successful encapsulation of NASA's IMAP & Carruthers, and NOAA's SWFO-L1, the fairing with the 3 spacecraft was moved to LC-39A for integration with Falcon 9 ahead of launch NET September 23rd at 11:32:15 UTC. Both fairing halves, SN237 & SN230, are brand new.

[zandr]

https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/imap/2025/09/19/nasas-imap-rideshares-encapsulate-complete-flight-readiness-review/

NASA's IMAP, Rideshares Encapsulate, Complete Flight Readiness Review

^{Workers transport NASA's IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) spacecraft along with the agency's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) satellite late on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, through early Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, from the Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Titusville Florida, to the SpaceX hangar at Launch Complex 39A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA/Kim Shiflett}

NASA's IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) completed another step in a journey that will eventually take it about a million miles from Earth. Crews transported NASA's newest space weather observatory and two rideshares from the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility in Titusville to a SpaceX hangar at nearby Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 18. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the missions no earlier than 7:32 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 23, from Launch Complex 39A from NASA Kennedy.  

Спойлер

Over the past several days, technicians completed a series of critical steps to allow the spacecraft to make this trip. First, they mated IMAP's two rideshare companions, the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On – Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) satellite, to the Evolved Secondary Payload Adapter ring.
Next, the team joined the ring with its attached rideshares to the Payload Attach Fitting, which will connect all three observatories to the rocket's second stage. Following that, technicians secured the IMAP observatory to its payload adapter. Finally, they mated the payload adapter to the ring, completing the integration of all three spacecraft into a single stack for launch.
On Sept. 16, technicians encapsulated the payload stack inside the rocket's payload fairing at Astrotech. The payload fairing protects the spacecraft from aerodynamic forces and heat during ascent. Approximately three minutes after liftoff, the fairing halves will separate from the rocket and return to Earth, where SpaceX plans to recover them.
After verifying the health and status of the observatories, the team carefully transported the encapsulated assembly. It took several hours to convoy the delicate hardware to the SpaceX hangar, where the team will mate the encapsulated spacecraft to their rocket.
The IMAP mission was confirmed to proceed during the agency's Flight Readiness Review on Thursday. Mission managers from NASA, SpaceX, and the IMAP spacecraft conducted the review at NASA Kennedy to provide updates on the mission's status and certify its readiness to for final launch preparation activities.

[свернуть]

NASA will provide launch coverage on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and more, beginning at 6:40 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 23. NASA's Spanish launch coverage begins at 6:40 a.m. on NASA+, and the agency's Spanish-language YouTube channel.

Спойлер

After launch, all three spacecraft will orbit the Sun near Lagrange point 1, about one million miles from Earth. From this location, IMAP will map the boundaries of the heliosphere, the protective bubble carved out of interstellar space by the solar wind. The IMAP mission seeks to understand the forces that control the shape of the heliosphere and will investigate how solar particles get accelerated to extremely high energies. The IMAP mission also will support near real-time observations of the solar wind and energetic particles.
The data collected by the IMAP mission will be used to create the IMAP Active Link in Real-Time (I-ALiRT) system. This system is designed to improve our understanding of space weather and enhance tools for next-generation space weather prediction. The improvements and enhancements made possible by I-ALiRT will provide better information for astronauts on missions to the Moon and Mars, including those under the Artemis campaign. It will also better inform Earth-based technologies that are vulnerable to space weather events, such as coronal mass ejections. The data supplements NOAA's SWFO-L1, which provides critical alerts and warnings to stakeholders. This represents a major step toward improving space weather forecasting and protecting our infrastructure as NASA explores deeper into space.
Carruthers will study Earth's exosphere, the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere. NOAA's SWFO-L1 will monitor space weather to help protect critical infrastructure, the economy, and national security.
David McComas, professor, 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 operates the mission. NASA's IMAP is the fifth mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program portfolio. The Explorers and Heliophysics Project Division at NASA Goddard manages the program for the agency's Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

[свернуть]

[zandr]

https://x.com/NASAKennedy/status/1969146607275811003

NASA's Kennedy Space Center  @NASAKennedy
Encapsulation complete!

Technicians encapsulated the IMAP, SWFO-L1 and Carruthers payload stack inside the @SpaceX Falcon 9 fairing. The payload fairing protects the spacecraft from aerodynamic forces and heat during ascent.

Launch is targeted for 7:32 am EDT on Sept. 23!

[zandr]

Код Выделить Развернуть

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-gzwILmPig

NASA Prelaunch News Conference on Three New Space Weather Missions (Sept. 21, 2025)
  NASA
Experts from NASA, NOAA, and the Space Force will discuss three new missions to study space weather and its impacts on the solar system.
IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) are targeted to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 7:32 a.m. EDT (1132 UTC), Tuesday, Sept. 23.
 
The participants in the news conference are:

Спойлер

- Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
- Brad Williams, IMAP program executive, NASA Headquarters
- Irene Parker, deputy assistant administrator for Systems at NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
- Denton Gibson, launch director, NASA's Launch Services Program, NASA Kennedy
- Julianna Scheiman, director, NASA Science Missions, SpaceX
- Arlena Moses, launch weather officer, 45th Weather Squadron, U.S. Space Force
 

[свернуть]

Learn more about IMAP: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/imap/
Learn more about SWFO-L1: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/swfo...
Learn more about the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/carr...
^{Credit: NASA}

Трансляция.

[zandr]

https://x.com/GewoonLukas_/status/1970185225767657568

Lukas C. H.  @GewoonLukas_
Falcon 9 first stage B1096-2 is vertical at LC-39A, ready to take 3 space weather missions to the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange Point more then 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth. Launch is now NET September 24rd at 11:30:35 UTC, and weather has an 85% chance of being favorable.

Перенос на сутки - на послезавтра.

[zandr]

Код Выделить Развернуть

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNRrfamTT4k

Three New Missions Launch to Track Space Weather
  NASA

Начало трансляции запуска 13:40

[Rocinante]

Синоптики, если не врут, оценивают благоприятность погоды в 90%

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