Small fleet of NASA, NOAA spacecraft to study Sun improving space weather forecasting

Solar storm fuels aurora across northern U.S.

Research Scientist at Millersville University, Tamith Skov, joins FOX Weather to discuss how a geomagnetic storm triggers an Aurora Borealis and how you can view this beautiful solar storm.

A triple threat of spacecraft will launch later this month to study the influence of the Sun that causes space weather events on Earth and in orbit, leading to advanced warning and a better understanding of our star. 

Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) will be a key piece to solving a long-standing heliophysics "puzzle" of the Sun’s influence on our solar system. 

Positioned 1 million miles from Earth at Lagrange point 1, IMAP will use 10 instruments to measure the heliosphere’s outer boundary every 15 seconds. 

IMAP will have company in this orbit with NOAA’s new Space Weather Follow On (SWFO) spacecraft, the agency’s first dedicated space weather satellite. IMAP and SWFO are also launching along with NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, another spacecraft traveling to 1 million miles away, this one designed to study Earth’s exosphere, part of Earth’s defense shield from space weather. The small satellite is named after Dr. George Carruthers, who invented the instrument on the Apollo 16 mission that first photographed the geocorona, the glow created by the neutral hydrogen of Earth’s exosphere.

Artist renderings of the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (left) and the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory (right).

(NASA)

This positioning will allow the three spacecraft launching this month to provide early warning for the upcoming Artemis II and III astronaut missions to the Moon for harmful radiation storms. 

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"These storms can have devastating short and long-term consequences for astronauts, spacecraft, and, of course, the technology onboard," Fox said. "They also pose risks within the Earth's atmosphere for air travelers, orbiting satellites, power grids, radio communications, and a lot more. Understanding their source, understanding warning signs, and identifying ways to protect against them are high on our list."

IMAP Principal Investigator Dave McComas said to study the edge of the heliosphere, scientists track energetic neutral atoms, or EMAs, acting as "cosmic messengers."

BAE Personnel inspects fully assembled SWFO-L1 observatory.

(BAE Space & Mission Systems / FOX Weather)

"By tracking them, we create a big picture map of the heliosphere, which helps scientists figure out what shapes the boundaries, like the Sun's movements through our part of the galaxy, the external pressure of the magnetic field from the galaxy beyond the heliosphere and changes from the inside by our solar wind," McComas said.

In real-time, IMAP's iAlert system will send back data with solar wind, energetic particles and magnetic fields information, which are critical to assessing space weather forecasts near-Earth.

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This new small fleet of spacecraft is launching at a critical time in space weather forecasting, when some of NASA's oldest Sun-observing instruments are still in use and the world becomes increasingly reliant on technology susceptible to space-weather impacts. 

"They all play an extremely vital role, and together, you know, they form one sort of big space weather observatory. Certainly, as we launch newer missions, they often have more advanced instrumentation that can take more sensitive measurements," Fox said.

NASA and SpaceX are targeting Sept. 23 to launch all three spacecraft on a ride-sharing mission.