IMAP Beauty Passes
NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, or IMAP, will map the boundaries of the heliosphere — the protective bubble surrounding the Sun and planets that is inflated by the constant stream of particles from the Sun called the solar wind.
As a modern-day celestial cartographer, IMAP will also explore and chart the vast range of particles in interplanetary space, helping to investigate two of the most important overarching issues in heliophysics: the energization of charged particles from the Sun and the interaction of the solar wind with interstellar space. IMAP plans to provide near real-time information about the solar wind to provide advanced space weather warnings from its location at Lagrange point 1, one million miles from Earth toward the Sun.
The mission is slated to launch no earlier than September 2025 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Learn more about IMAP: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/imap/
Animation
The IMAP spacecraft, located at Lagrange Point 1, spins at four revolutions per minute as it surveys the heliosphere.
Credit: NASA/Princeton/Patrick McPike
Animation with IMAP Indentifer
The IMAP spacecraft, located at Lagrange Point 1, spins at four revolutions per minute as it surveys the heliosphere.
Credit: NASA/Princeton/Patrick McPike
Animation
The IMAP-Lo instrument measures low-energy energetic neutral atoms, or ENAs, as it spins along its orbital path at Lagrange Point 1. This data is used to create maps that show the amount and origin location of the low-energy ENAs coming from the heliosphere’s boundary.
Animation credit: NASA/Princeton/Patrick McPike
Animation
The IMAP-Hi instrument measures high-energy energetic neutral atoms, or ENAs, as it spins along its orbital path at Lagrange Point 1. This data is used to create maps that show the amount and origin location of the high-energy ENAs coming from the heliosphere’s boundary.
Animation credit: NASA/Princeton/Patrick McPike
Animation
The IMAP-Ultra instrument is a pair of imagers that measure ultra high-energy energetic neutral atoms, or ENAs, as the spacecraft spins along its orbital path at Lagrange Point 1. This data is used to create maps that show the amount and origin location of the high-energy ENAs coming from the heliosphere’s boundary.
Animation credit: NASA/Princeton/Patrick McPike
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Princeton/Patrick McPike
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Support
- Joy Ng (eMITS)
Release date
This page was originally published on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
This page was last updated on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 12:58 PM EDT.