Archive · 19 May 2025
IMAP Mission Prepares to Map Solar System's Edge
NASA is launching a new spacecraft called IMAP to study the edge of our solar system.
This spacecraft will map the heliosphere, a giant bubble that protects us from radiation coming from outside our solar system.
IMAP will orbit close to the sun to measure the solar wind.
The goal is to give us early warning about space weather that can mess up satellites and power grids on Earth.
IMAP will launch on a SpaceX rocket and is planned to start its mission in 2025.
IMAP is a NASA mission to map the heliosphere, a giant bubble surrounding our solar system.
The spacecraft will study solar wind and protect the solar system from interstellar radiation.
The mission is tentatively scheduled to launch in Fall 2025 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
IMAP will orbit at Lagrange Point 1 (L1), one million miles from Earth towards the Sun.
The mission's data is expected to provide early warnings about space weather.
- Who
- Led by Princeton University professor David J. McComas, with an international team and built by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and will be launched by NASA.
- What
- The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission.
- When
- Tentatively scheduled for launch no earlier than fall 2025.
- Where
- Will orbit the Sun at Lagrange Point 1 (L1), approximately one million miles from Earth.
- Why
- To map the solar system by studying the heliosphere and provide early warnings about space weather.
- Mission Objective
- Mapping the heliosphere
- Launch Date
- Fall 2025 (tentative)
- Launch Vehicle
- SpaceX Falcon 9
- Orbit Location
- Lagrange Point 1 (L1)
- L1 Distance
- One million miles from Earth towards the Sun
- Program Status
- 5th mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program