Sun's impact on Earth: NASA IMAP and more to launch from Florida Tuesday

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What is NASA's IMAP? Solar science-packed mission to launch on SpaceX rocket Tuesday
Brooke Edwards, Florida Today
Fri, September 19, 2025 at 5:01 AM EDT
4 min read





A suite of three missions which will study the Sun’s influence on our Earth and solar system are set to launch next week.

NASA’s IMAP mission, alongside two other solar science-packed spacecraft, have been processed at Astrotech’s facility in Titusville, and are moving towards the launchpad for a liftoff on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

It will be an early launch, set to take off 7:32 a.m. from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A. As part of a rideshare mission, all three will launch atop a single SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

NASA’s IMAP — or Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe — will travel 108 days to the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 1 (L1). That's an area 1 million miles from Earth in which the spacecraft can orbit the Sun alongside the Earth.

From that position, IMAP will collect its data using 10 sophisticated onboard instruments, which are the result of an international collaboration involving 25 partners. The spacecraft itself is divided into six bays, which hold 12 instrument sensors. This doesn't include the one large sensor on the top of the spacecraft.

The data collected will also assist with space weather predictions such as solar activity that can harm not only satellites in orbit but also astronauts and space technology.

The IMAP will also try to determine the extent of the heliosphere. Formed by solar wind, the heliosphere is a vast bubble which surrounds our solar system.

Also headed to L1 are the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration SWFO-L1 mission.


The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory

“The Carruthers mission is observing the exosphere, and it observes the light in lyman-alpha, which is a glow in the ultraviolet light that the Earth gives off once the sun hits the outer atmosphere,” NASA scientist Kelly Korreck told FLORIDA TODAY.

Korreck explained that the exosphere, or outer atmosphere, is where water either escapes or comes back to Earth. It is also the area where solar wind first interacts with Earth’s atmosphere.

Even with all the science missions launched over the years, we still do not know the size or density of the exosphere. During a study by George Carruthers conducted on the Apollo 16 mission, it was discovered that Earth's exosphere extends as far as the moon.

“He created this ultraviolet camera, able to actually take those pictures. And when he took those pictures, to his surprise, it was very, very large,” said Korreck.

Now this mission will provide a chance to look back at Earth from a distance much father than the moon and take a full picture of the Earth's exosphere.

“It's really important to understand the exosphere right now, because the space weather that comes in and hits the Earth can affect everything from satellites to our GPS, or our power grids,” said Korreck.

She said it's the exosphere that buffers some of the solar wind headed to Earth.

“It's much like looking out and seeing a storm cloud forming. The exosphere reacts to that space weather, and sometimes can dissipate it,” said Korreck.


NOAA’s SWFO-L1 mission

Meanwhile, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration SWFO-L1 is aimed at observing space weather, or charged particles from the Sun. This space weather can have an impact on satellites in orbit, such as GPS, astronauts in space, aircraft radio communication, and even power systems on Earth.

Deputy Director of Office of Space Weather Observations at NOAA Richard Ullman said it’s not just our power grids and satellites in orbit that could be in danger. But also systems that rely on precise GPS, such as autonomous driving planting machines, could be impacted.

SWFO-L1 will monitor for coronal mass ejections, which are eruptions of plasma and energy from the Sun.

Ullman explained that while there is a coronagraph already in Earth orbit, sometimes the Earth blocks its observation or glare bouncing off surface water impacts its camera. As it will be orbiting much further away in the L1, SWFO-L1 will not face these interruptions.

Before this mission takes off, SpaceX plans to launch one more rocket. The Starlink 10-27 mission is set to launch no earlier than 5:20 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 21 from Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission is the latest batch of SpaceX's internet-beaming Starlink satellites.

FLORIDA TODAY will provide live updates beginning 90 minutes prior to liftoff at FloridaToday.com/Space.

Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Sun's impact on Earth: NASA IMAP and more to launch from Florida