NASA will provide live coverage of prelaunch and launch activities for an observatory designed to study space weather and explore and map the boundaries of our solar neighborhood. The launch is scheduled 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. EDT on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and other platforms. The mission will include the primary payload, the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), alongside two rideshare missions: NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1). IMAP’s objective is to study how the Sun’s energy and particles interact with the heliosphere — a vast bubble of space influenced by the solar wind.
This research is pivotal for understanding space weather, cosmic radiation, and their impacts on Earth, as well as on human and robotic space explorers. The combined missions will orbit approximately one million miles from Earth at Lagrange Point 1, a vantage point directed towards the Sun.
Live coverage for IMAP mission launch
The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory will focus on Earth’s exosphere, capturing ultraviolet light emissions to study the impacts of space weather on our planet. SWFO-L1, NOAA’s first spacecraft dedicated to continuous operational space weather observations, will serve as an early warning system for solar storms that can affect Earth’s technological infrastructure. NASA will offer comprehensive online coverage, including briefings and events.
On Sunday, Sept. 21, there will be a NASA Prelaunch News Conference at 2:30 p.m. EDT featuring officials from NASA, NOAA, SpaceX, and the U.S. Space Force. On Monday, Sept.
22, there will be in-person media interviews with NASA and partner officials at 11:30 a.m. EDT. Public engagement will be significant, with social media interactions encouraged via the hashtag #AskNASA. For additional information on media access and the event schedule, please refer to NASA’s official communications or contact the NASA Kennedy newsroom.
