Overview

• The SNIFS payload has finished integration and pre-launch testing at White Sands Missile Range ahead of its launch window opening July 18
• A Black Brant IX sounding rocket will carry the instrument on a roughly 15-minute flight that includes seven to eight minutes of chromospheric observations
• SNIFS is the first solar ultraviolet integral field spectrograph combining an imager and a spectrograph in one instrument
• The mission will target hydrogen, silicon and oxygen spectral lines to map how energy and material move through the chromosphere
• Data from SNIFS will feed into space weather models to better predict flares and coronal mass ejections and offer training opportunities for early-career scientists