KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Note Sept. 22: Launch delay to Sept. 24.
NASA is preparing to launch a trio of ambitious new space weather science mission on Tuesday, Sep 23 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, led by IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) which is an observatory designed to study space weather and explore and map the boundaries of our solar neighborhood a region dubbed the heliosphere.
Also along for the ride are a pair of rideshare missions, NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1), both of which will provide insight into space weather and its impacts at Earth and across the solar system.
The 3 payload satellite stack encapsulated in a nose cone and integrated with a Space X Falcon 9 rocket rolled out horizontal to pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 21, in anticipation of the planned Sept. 23 liftoff.
They will all be launched to the Lagrange Point 1 (L1) residing a million miles from Earth where the gravitational influences of the Sun and Earth are balanced.
Enjoy our mission photos taken by the Space UpClose team of Ken Kremer and Jean Wright covering the launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Press Site.
Liftoff of the missions on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is targeted for 7:30 a.m. EDT, Wednesday, Sept. 24, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA will provide live coverage of prelaunch and launch activities
Watch coverage beginning at 6:40 a.m. on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and more.
From NASA:
The IMAP spacecraft will study how the Sun’s energy and particles interact with the heliosphere — an enormous protective bubble of space around our solar system — to enhance our understanding of space weather, cosmic radiation, and their impacts on Earth and human and robotic space explorers. The spacecraft and its two rideshares will orbit approximately one million miles from Earth, positioned toward the Sun at a location known as Lagrange Point 1.
NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a small satellite that will observe Earth’s outermost atmospheric layer, the exosphere. It will image the faint glow of ultraviolet light from this region, called the geocorona, to better understand how space weather impacts our planet. The Carruthers mission continues the legacy of the Apollo era, expanding on measurements first taken during Apollo 16.
The SWFO-L1 spacecraft will monitor space weather and detect solar storms in advance, serving as an early warning beacon for potentially disruptive space weather, helping safeguard Earth’s critical infrastructure and technological-dependent industries. The SWFO-L1 spacecraft is the first NOAA observatory designed specifically for and fully dedicated to continuous, operational space weather observations.
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Links to both NASA Briefings about 3 Space Weather Missions held on Sept 21, 2025
** NASA IMAP/Carruthers/SWFO-L1 Prelaunch Briefing at NASA KSC Press Site
https://www.youtube.com/live/E-gzwILmPig?si=lLLQJHYkFAoYbysc
My 2 questions about the 3 new space weather probes at 26 min & 34 min mark: about restoring NASA VIPER moon and about how the challenges of launching 3 science missions together and how it came about
Streamed live on Sep 21, 2025
Experts from NASA, NOAA, and the Space Force will discuss three new missions to study space weather and its impacts on the solar system. IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) are targeted to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 7:32 a.m. EDT (1132 UTC), Tuesday, Sept. 23.
The participants in the news conference are:
- Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
- Brad Williams, IMAP program executive, NASA Headquarters
- Irene Parker, deputy assistant administrator for Systems at NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
- Denton Gibson, launch director, NASA’s Launch Services Program, NASA Kennedy
- Julianna Scheiman, director, NASA Science Missions, SpaceX
- Arlena Moses, launch weather officer, 45th Weather Squadron, U.S. Space Force
Learn more about IMAP: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/imap/
Learn more about SWFO-L1: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/swfo-l1/
Learn more about the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/carruthers-geocorona-observatory/
** NASA IMAP/Carruthers/SWFO-L1 Science Briefing at NASA KSC Press Site:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4xu4OZ_KHI&t=6s
https://www.youtube.com/live/L4xu4OZ_KHI?si=Ohe9smAiGLDiGEDu
My 2 questions about the 3 new space weather probes at 37 min & 56 min mark
Streamed live on Sep 21, 2025
Participants from NASA, NOAA, and participating universities will discuss the science of the missions and answer questions from the media. Participants in the news conference include:
- Joe Westlake, director, Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters
- David J. McComas, IMAP principal investigator, Princeton University
- Lara Waldrop, Carruthers Geocorona Observatory principal investigator, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Jamie Favors, director, Space Weather Program, Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters
- Clinton Wallace, Director, NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center
- Dr. James Spann, Senior Scientist, NOAA Office of Space Weather Observations
Learn more about IMAP: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/imap/
Learn more about SWFO-L1: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/swfo-l1/
Learn more about the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/carruthers-geocorona-observatory/
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