IMAP Testing and Integration at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

  • Released Wednesday, April 9, 2025
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NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, or IMAP, is embarking on its yearlong integration and testing campaign, during which all of the instruments and components will be added to the spacecraft structure, tested to ensure they will survive the harsh environments of launch and space, and made ready to execute its mission.

Slated to launch no earlier than September 2025, 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.

Below are clips of IMAP’s testing and integration at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Learn more about IMAP: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/imap/

PhotoSuzie Kellogg, Jackie Kilheffer, Luke Boggs, Pierce Brown, Tyler Radomsky, Emory Toomey, Anthony Fanelli, Anna Shin, Hunter Reeling, and Joe Minty lift the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe onto the shipping container base at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Princeton/Ed Whitman

Photo

Suzie Kellogg, Jackie Kilheffer, Luke Boggs, Pierce Brown, Tyler Radomsky, Emory Toomey, Anthony Fanelli, Anna Shin, Hunter Reeling, and Joe Minty lift the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe onto the shipping container base at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Princeton/Ed Whitman

PhotoLuke Boggs and Juan Morales prepare the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe for acoustic testing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Princeton/Ed Whitman

Photo

Luke Boggs and Juan Morales prepare the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe for acoustic testing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Princeton/Ed Whitman

Video

The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe departs the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, to undergo acoustic testing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Princeton/Jim Harris

Video

The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe arrives at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for acoustic testing.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Princeton/Jim Harris

Credits

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This page was originally published on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 4:57 PM EDT.