NASA will provide live coverage of prelaunch and launch activities for an observatory designed to study space weather and explore the boundaries of our solar neighborhood. Launching alongside the IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) mission are NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow-On Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1). These missions will provide valuable insights into space weather and its impacts on Earth and across the solar system.
The launch of these missions aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is targeted for 7:32 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 23, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Coverage will begin at 6:40 a.m. on various platforms, including NASA+ and Amazon Prime.
The IMAP spacecraft will study how the Sun’s energy and particles interact with the heliosphere — the protective bubble surrounding our solar system. This will enhance understanding of space weather, cosmic radiation, and their impacts on both Earth and space exploration. The spacecraft and its rideshares will orbit approximately one million miles from Earth at Lagrange Point 1.
The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a small satellite that will observe Earth’s exosphere, imaging the faint ultraviolet glow from this outermost atmospheric layer.
Live coverage for IMAP mission launch
This mission will continue to build on data collected during the Apollo era to understand space weather’s effects on our planet better.
The SWFO-L1 spacecraft will focus on continuous space weather observations, detecting solar storms in advance and serving as an early warning system to safeguard Earth’s vital infrastructure and technology-dependent industries. It is NOAA’s first observatory dedicated entirely to operational space weather monitoring. Media accreditation for in-person coverage of the launch has closed.
However, NASA’s coverage will be available online. Sunday, Sept. 21:
2:30 p.m. – NASA Prelaunch News Conference on New Space Weather Missions, featuring:
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
3:45 p.m. – NASA, NOAA Science News Conference on New Space Weather Missions, featuring:
Joe Westlake, Director, Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters
David 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
James Spann, Senior Scientist, NOAA Office of Space Weather Observations
Monday, Sept.
22:
11:30 a.m. – In-person media interviews with scientists and mission leads will be available, including:
Nicky Fox, Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
Kieran Hegarty, IMAP Project Manager, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
Jamie Rankin, IMAP Instrument Lead, Princeton University
John Clarke, Carruthers Deputy Principal Investigator, Boston University
Dimitrios Vassiliadis, SWFO-L1 Program Scientist, NOAA
Brent Gordon, Deputy Director, NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center
Remote media may request one-on-one video interviews by 3 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18. Members of the public can ask questions on social media using the hashtag #AskNASA.
For more information and updates, visit NASA’s official website.
