NASA will hold a media teleconference at 12 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Sept. 4, to discuss the agency\u2019s upcoming Sun and space weather missions, IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory. The two missions are targeting launch on the same rocket no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 23.<\/p>\n
The IMAP mission<\/a> will map the boundaries of our heliosphere, the vast bubble created by the Sun\u2019s wind that encapsulates our entire solar system. As a modern-day celestial cartographer, IMAP will explore how the heliosphere interacts with interstellar space, as well as chart the range of particles that fill the space between the planets. The IMAP mission also will support near real-time observations of the solar wind and energetic particles. These energetic particles can produce hazardous space weather that can impact spacecraft and other NASA hardware as the agency explores deeper into space, including at the Moon under the Artemis campaign.<\/p>\n NASA\u2019s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory<\/a> will image the ultraviolet glow of Earth\u2019s exosphere, the outermost region of our planet\u2019s atmosphere. This data will help scientists understand how space weather from the Sun shapes the exosphere and ultimately impacts our planet. The first observation of this glow \u2013 called the geocorona \u2013 was captured during Apollo 16, when a telescope designed and built by George Carruthers<\/a> was deployed on the Moon.<\/p>\n Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency\u2019s website at:<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/live<\/a><\/p>\n Participants include:<\/p>\n To participate in the media teleconference, media must RSVP no later than 11 a.m. on Sept. 4 to Sarah Frazier at: sarah.frazier@nasa.gov<\/a>. NASA\u2019s media accreditation policy<\/a> is available online.<\/p>\n The IMAP and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory missions will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Also launching on this flight will be the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On \u2013 Lagrange 1<\/a> (SWFO-L1), which will monitor solar wind disturbances and detect and track coronal mass ejections before they reach Earth.<\/p>\n 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 will operate the mission. NASA\u2019s IMAP is the fifth mission in NASA\u2019s Solar Terrestrial Probes Program portfolio.<\/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 Solar Terrestrial Probes Program Office, part of the Explorers and Heliophysics Project Division at NASA Goddard, manages the IMAP and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory missions for NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate.<\/p>\n NASA\u2019s\u00a0Launch Services Program<\/a>, based at NASA Kennedy, manages the launch service for the mission.<\/p>\n To learn more about IMAP, please visit:<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/imap<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n -end-<\/p>\n Abbey Interrante \/ Karen Fox\n
Headquarters, Washington
301-201-0124 \/ 202-358-1600
abbey.a.interrante@nasa.gov<\/a> \/ karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n