A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday morning, carrying a trio of scientific spacecraft for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The missions are now on a journey to a stable observation point one million miles from Earth, where they will study the sun's influence on the solar system and provide critical space weather data.
Key Takeaways
- A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched three science missions from Kennedy Space Center at 7:30 a.m. on September 24.
- The primary payload, NASA's IMAP, will study the boundary of the solar system and the solar wind.
- NOAA's SWFO-L1 will provide advanced warnings for space weather events like solar flares.
- NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory will study the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere.
A Sunrise Launch for Solar Science
The mission lifted off from historic Launch Pad 39A at 7:30 a.m., shortly after the 7:12 a.m. sunrise over the Space Coast. Weather conditions were nearly perfect for the launch, with the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron predicting a 90% probability of favorable conditions.
The launch proceeded after a one-day delay. According to NASA, the postponement from the original September 23 date was to "allow more time for the recovery assets to arrive at the landing zone."
Following stage separation, the Falcon 9's first-stage booster successfully landed on the 'Just Read the Instructions' droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. This marked the second successful mission for this particular booster, which previously launched Amazon's first Kuiper internet satellites.
Destination Lagrange Point 1
All three spacecraft are headed to Lagrange Point 1 (L1), a unique location in space approximately one million miles from Earth in the direction of the sun. At this point, the gravitational forces of the Earth and the sun balance, allowing a spacecraft to maintain a stable position relative to both bodies. This makes it an ideal vantage point for continuous solar observation.
The Three Key Missions
This launch was a rideshare, a cost-effective method that places multiple spacecraft into orbit on a single rocket. Each of the three payloads has a distinct scientific objective related to our sun and its interaction with Earth.
IMAP: Mapping the Edge of the Solar System
The primary mission is NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP). Its main goal is to study the heliosphere, the vast magnetic bubble created by the sun that surrounds our solar system. IMAP will help scientists understand how particles from the sun, known as the solar wind, interact with particles from interstellar space.
To achieve this, IMAP is equipped with 10 advanced science instruments. One of these, the Interstellar Dust Experiment (IDEX), is designed to capture and analyze dust particles originating from outside our solar system.
"This is going to collect interstellar dust that’s coming from outside our solar system. And it’s going to help us figure out what is out there between the stars – what the galaxy is made of," said Michele Cash, IMAP deputy program scientist.
SWFO-L1: A Modern Space Weather Watchdog
Riding alongside IMAP is NOAA's Space Weather Follow On – Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1). This spacecraft will serve as the nation's primary operational tool for monitoring space weather. It will watch for coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are massive bursts of plasma from the sun that can disrupt satellites, power grids, and communication systems on Earth.
Upgrading Decades-Old Technology
SWFO-L1 is designed to replace and enhance the capabilities of two aging spacecraft: the NASA/ESA SOHO mission and the NASA ACE mission. Both were launched in the mid-1990s and have far exceeded their original design lives.
According to Brent Gordon, deputy director at NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, SWFO-L1 will be a significant upgrade. "SWFO-L1 is packaging up the best parts of those two missions into an operational system. It’s going to be the first dedicated space weather mission out at the L1 Lagrange point," he stated.
Carruthers Observatory: A New Look at Earth's Atmosphere
The third payload is NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory. Unlike the other two missions that look out into space, Carruthers will turn its instruments back toward Earth to study the planet's exosphere, the tenuous outermost layer of the atmosphere.
The mission is named in honor of Dr. George Carruthers, an astrophysicist whose ultraviolet camera experiment on the Apollo 16 mission in 1972 provided groundbreaking images of the exosphere, revealing it was much more extensive than previously believed.
The observatory also includes a student-built instrument called COSMO (Contribution to the Scientific MOnitoring of the Sun). Jason McPhate, the Carruthers payload lead, explained that while the main instrument looks at Earth, COSMO will face the sun to monitor the flux of ultraviolet light.