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SpaceX Launches Three Space-Weather Missions to Sun–Earth L1

The trio targets earlier solar-storm warnings from an upstream perch near Earth’s orbit.

FILE -{ }This image from June 20, 2013, shows the bright light of a solar flare on the left side of the Sun and an eruption of solar material shooting through the Sun’s atmosphere, called a prominence eruption. (NASA/Goddard/SDO)
FILE -{ } The dark region seen on the face of the sun at the end of March 2013 is a coronal hole (just above and to the right of the middle of the picture), which is a source of fast solar wind leaving the sun in this image from NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory. (NASA)
This image provided by NASA depicts from left, NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 satellite. (NASA VIA AP)
Image

Overview

  • A Falcon 9 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 24 carrying NASA’s IMAP and Carruthers observatories plus NOAA’s SWFO‑L1, with signals acquired and a roughly 108‑day cruise to L1 underway.
  • IMAP will map the heliosphere’s boundaries and particle acceleration with ten instruments, including two built at Los Alamos National Laboratory, while providing radiation alert capability for astronauts.
  • NOAA’s SWFO‑L1 will stream continuous, real‑time solar wind and coronal mass ejection data to the Space Weather Prediction Center for operational forecasting.
  • NASA expects IMAP and Carruthers to begin operations around January 2026, with SWFO‑L1 slated to enter full forecasting service by spring 2026.
  • Program costs total about $1.6 billion, with NASA funding roughly $879 million for its two missions and NOAA about $693 million for SWFO‑L1.