NASA has selected one small explorer mission concept to advance toward flight design and another for an extended period of concept development.

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Science Management Council selected CINEMA (Cross-scale Investigation of Earth’s Magnetotail and Aurora) to enter Phase B of development, which includes planning and design for flight and mission operations. The principal investigator for the CINEMA mission concept is Robyn Millan from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

The proposed CINEMA mission aims to advance our understanding of how plasma energy flows into the Earth’s magnetosphere. This highly dynamic convective flow is unpredictable — sometimes steady and sometimes explosive — driving phenomena like fast plasma jets, global electrical current systems, and spectacular auroral displays.

“The CINEMA mission will help us to research magnetic convection in Earth’s magnetosphere — a critical piece of the puzzle in understanding why some space weather events are so influential, such as causing magnificent aurora displays and impacts to ground- and space-based infrastructure, and others seem to fizzle out,” said Joe Westlake, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Using multiple, multi-point measurements to improve predictions of these impacts on humans and technology across the solar system is a key strategy for the future of heliophysics research.”

The CINEMA mission’s constellation of nine small satellites will investigate the convective mystery using a combination of instruments — an energetic particle detector, an auroral imager, and a magnetometer — on each spacecraft in a polar low Earth orbit. By relating the energetic particles observed in this orbit to simultaneous auroral images and local magnetic field measurements, CINEMA aims to connect energetic activity in Earth’s large-scale magnetic structure to the visible signatures like aurora that we see in the ionosphere. The mission has been awarded approximately $28 million to enter Phase B. The total cost of the mission, not including launch, will not exceed $182.8 million. Phase B will last 10 months, and if selected, the mission would launch no earlier than 2030.

NASA also selected the proposed CMEx (Chromospheric Magnetism Explorer) mission for an extended Phase A study. This extended phase is for the mission to assess and refine their design for potential future consideration. The principal investigator for the CMEx mission concept study is Holly Gilbert from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. The cost of the extended Phase A, which will last 12 months, is $2 million.

The CMEx concept is a proposed single-spacecraft mission that would use proven UV spectropolarimetric instrumentation that has been demonstrated during NASA’s CLASP (Chromospheric Layer Spectropolarimeter) sub-orbital sounding rocket flight. Using this heritage hardware, CMEx would be able to diagnose lower layers of the Sun’s chromosphere to understand the origin of solar eruptions and determine the magnetic sources of the solar wind.

The proposed missions completed a one-year early concept study in response to the 2022 Heliophysics Explorers Program Small-class Explorer (SMEX) Announcement of Opportunity.

“Space is becoming increasingly more important and plays a role in just about everything we do,” said Asal Naseri, acting associate flight director for heliophysics at NASA Headquarters. “These mission concepts, if advanced to flight, will improve our ability to predict solar events that could harm satellites that we rely on every day and mitigate danger to astronauts near Earth, at the Moon, or Mars.”

To learn more about NASA heliophysics missions, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics

-end-

Abbey Interrante / Karen Fox
Headquarters, Washington
301-201-0124 / 202-358-1600
abbey.a.interrante@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov

Images captured by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe as the spacecraft made its record-breaking closest approach to the Sun in December 2024 have now revealed new details about how solar magnetic fields responsible for space weather escape from the Sun — and how sometimes they don’t.

Like a toddler, our Sun occasionally has disruptive outbursts. But instead of throwing a fit, the Sun spews magnetized material and hazardous high-energy particles that drive space weather as they travel across the solar system. These outbursts can impact our daily lives, from disrupting technologies like GPS to triggering power outages, and they can also imperil voyaging astronauts and spacecraft. Understanding how these solar outbursts, called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), occur and where they are headed is essential to predicting and preparing for their impacts at Earth, the Moon, and Mars.

Images taken by Parker Solar Probe in December 2024, and published Thursday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, have revealed that not all magnetic material in a CME escapes the Sun — some makes it back, changing the shape of the solar atmosphere in subtle, but significant, ways that can set the course of the next CME exploding from the Sun. These findings have far-reaching implications for understanding how the CME-driven release of magnetic fields affects not only the planets, but the Sun itself.

“These breathtaking images are some of the closest ever taken to the Sun and they’re expanding what we know about our closest star,” said Joe Westlake, heliophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The insights we gain from these images are an important part of understanding and predicting how space weather moves through the solar system, especially for mission planning that ensures the safety of our Artemis astronauts traveling beyond the protective shield of our atmosphere.”

Parker Solar Probe reveals solar recycling in action

As Parker Solar Probe swept through the Sun’s atmosphere on Dec. 24, 2024, just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface, its Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe, or WISPR, observed a CME erupt from the Sun. In the CME’s wake, elongated blobs of solar material were seen falling back toward the Sun.

This type of feature, called “inflows”, has previously been seen from a distance by other NASA missions including SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, a joint mission with ESA, the European Space Agency) and STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory). But Parker Solar Probe’s extreme close-up view from within the solar atmosphere reveals details of material falling back toward the Sun and on scales never seen before. 

“We’ve previously seen hints that material can fall back into the Sun this way, but to see it with this clarity is amazing,” said Nour Rawafi, the project scientist for Parker Solar Probe at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, which designed, built, and operates the spacecraft in Laurel, Maryland. “This is a really fascinating, eye-opening glimpse into how the Sun continuously recycles its coronal magnetic fields and material.”

Insights on inflows

For the first time, the high-resolution images from Parker Solar Probe allowed scientists to make precise measurements about the inflow process, such as the speed and size of the blobs of material pulled back into the Sun. These previously hidden details provide scientists with new insights into the physical mechanisms that reconfigure the solar atmosphere.

The CMEs are often triggered by twisted magnetic field lines that explosively snap and realign in a process called magnetic reconnection. This magnetic explosion kicks out a burst of charged particles and magnetic fields — a CME.

As the CME travels outward from the Sun, it expands, in some cases causing nearby magnetic field lines to tear apart like the threads of an old piece of cloth pulled too tight. The torn magnetic field quickly mends itself, creating separate magnetic loops. Some of the loops travel outward from the Sun, and others stitch back to the Sun, forming inflows.

“It turns out, some of the magnetic field released with the CME does not escape as we would expect,” said Angelos Vourlidas, WISPR project scientist and researcher at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. “It actually lingers for a while and eventually returns to the Sun to be recycled, reshaping the solar atmosphere in subtle ways.”

An important result of this magnetic recycling is that as the inflows contract back into the Sun, they drag down blobs of nearby solar material and ultimately affect the magnetic fields swirling beneath. This interaction reconfigures the solar magnetic landscape, potentially altering the trajectories of subsequent CMEs that may emerge from the region.

“The magnetic reconfiguration caused by inflows may be enough to point a secondary CME a few degrees in a different direction,” Vourlidas said. “That’s enough to be the difference between a CME crashing into Mars versus sweeping by the planet with no or little effects.”

Scientists are using the new findings to improve their models of space weather and the Sun’s complex magnetic environment. Ultimately, this work may help scientists better predict the impact of space weather across the solar system on longer timescales than currently possible.

“Eventually, with more and more passes by the Sun, Parker Solar Probe will help us be able to continue building the big picture of the Sun’s magnetic fields and how they can affect us,” Rawafi said. “And as the Sun transitions from solar maximum toward minimum, the scenes we’ll witness may be even more dramatic.”

By Mara Johnson-Groh
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Explore More

6 min read

NASA’s Webb Detects Thick Atmosphere Around Broiling Lava World 

Article


4 hours ago

2 min read

GLOBE Expands with Landsat Land Cover Comparisons

The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program has launched a new…

Article


24 hours ago

3 min read

City Lights Glow Along Moonlit Waters

An astronaut photographed moonglint shimmering across the sea surface and the bright clusters of Florida’s…

Article


2 days ago

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Missions

Humans in Space

Climate Change

Solar System

NASA has lost contact with one of its three spacecraft orbiting Mars, the agency announced Tuesday. Meanwhile, a second Mars orbiter is perilously close to running out of fuel, and the third mission is running well past its warranty.

Ground teams last heard from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft on Saturday, December 6. “Telemetry from MAVEN had showed all subsystems working normally before it orbited behind the red planet,” NASA said in a short statement. “After the spacecraft emerged from behind Mars, NASA’s Deep Space Network did not observe a signal.”

NASA said mission controllers are “investigating the anomaly to address the situation. More information will be shared once it becomes available.”

Read full article

Comments

NASA’s broadcast of the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse has won an Emmy Award for Excellence in Production Technology.

At the 76th Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards on Dec. 4, in New York City, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the win. Walt Lindblom and Sami Aziz accepted the award on behalf of the agency. For the broadcast, Lindblom served as the coordinating producer and Aziz served as the executive producer.

“By broadcasting the total solar eclipse, this team brought joy and wonder for our Sun, Moon, and Earth to viewers across America and the world,” said Will Boyington, associate administrator for the Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Congratulations to the production team, whose efforts demonstrate the hard work and dedication to the sharing the marvel that makes our solar system something we strive to understand.” 

NASA’s live broadcast coverage of the 2024 total solar eclipse was the most complex live project ever produced by the agency. In total, NASA’s eclipse broadcasts garnered almost 40 million live and replay views across its own distribution channels, including on NASA+, the agency’s free streaming service. Externally, the agency’s main broadcast was picked up in 2,208 hits on 568 channels in 25 countries.

“Our unique place in the solar system allows us on Earth to witness one of the most spectacular science shows nature has to offer. NASA’s production team captured the action every step of the way across the path of totality, including the rare glimpse of the Sun’s corona,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters. “Congratulations to the NASA team for successfully showing the 2024 total solar eclipse through the eyes of NASA for the whole world to experience together.”

The broadcast spanned three hours, showcasing the eclipse across seven American states and two countries. From cities, parks, and stadiums, 11 hosts and correspondents provided on air commentary, interviews, and live coverage. Viewers tuned in from all over the world, including at watch parties in nine locations, from the Austin Public Library to New York’s Times Square. An interactive “Eclipse Board” provided real time data analysis as the Moon’s shadow crossed North America.

Live feeds from astronauts aboard the International Space Station and NASA’s WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft were brought in to provide rare and unique perspectives of the solar event. To make this possible, NASA deployed and enabled 67 cameras, 6 NASA Wide Area Network control rooms, 38 encoders, and 35 decoders. The team coordinated 20 live telescope feeds which represented 12 locations across the path of totality.

NASA’s eclipse broadcast won another Emmy award earlier this year at the 46th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards for Outstanding Live News Special. Additionally, the show received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Show Open or Title Sequence – News. NASA’s eclipse communication and broadcast efforts also won two Webby Awards and two Webby People’s Voice Awards.

For more information about NASA, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov

Abbey Interrante / Karen Fox
Headquarters, Washington
301-201-0124 / 202-358-1600
abbey.a.interrante@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov

Explore More

3 min read

NASA Earns Two Emmy Nominations for 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Coverage

Article 7 months ago

4 min read

NASA Partnerships Bring 2024 Total Solar Eclipse to Everyone

On Monday, April 8, NASA and its partners will celebrate the wonders of the total…

Article 2 years ago

5 min read

The April 8 Total Solar Eclipse: Through the Eyes of NASA

On April 8, 2024, the Moon’s shadow swept across North America, treating millions to a…

Article 2 years ago

Keep Exploring

Discover Related Topics

Missions

Humans in Space

Climate Change

Solar System

Mars and Mercury cozy up, the Leonids sparkle, and Saturn’s rings are…disappearing? 

Mars and Mercury get close for a conjunction, the Leonid meteor shower delights, and Saturn’s rings are…disappearing?

Skywatching Highlights

• Nov. 12: A conjunction between Mars and Mercury
• Nov. 16-18: Leonid meteor shower peak viewing
• Nov. 23: Saturn’s rings disappear

Transcript

Mars and Mercury have a cozy conjunction, the Leonid meteor shower delights, and Saturn’s rings are…disappearing?

That’s What’s Up for November.

Conjunction:

Mars and Mercury will cozy up together in the night sky just after sunset on November 12th.

The planets will experience what is known as a conjunction, meaning they appear close together in the sky from our view (even though in real life, Mars and Mercury are well over 100 million miles apart). 

But you can see these two long distance pals close together if you look slightly southwest just after sunset in the early evening sky on November 12th. 

Mars will be just to the right above Mercury, and you’ll know it’s Mars by its distinctive reddish-orange color.

Leonid Meteor Shower: 

The Leonid meteor shower will sparkle across the skies this month, peaking on November 17th.

While the meteor shower stretches from November 3rd through December 2nd, it will be at its most visible late on the night of November 16th into the dawn of November 17th, even into the early morning of November 18th.

Look for meteors coming from the shower’s radiant point within the constellation Leo in the eastern sky.

With dark skies, you might see 10-15 meteors per hour with this shower which happens when we travel through the debris trailing the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle.

Saturn’s rings disappear

Saturn’s rings will disappear from view this November! 

Saturn orbits the sun leaning at an angle of 26.7 degrees. This means that from our view, its rings shift up and down over time. 

On November 23, Saturn will be angled in such a way that its rings face us, and since they are so thin they’ll just disappear from view. 

But don’t worry, the rings aren’t gone from view forever. As the planet continues to orbit, its rings will gradually become more visible again. 

Conclusion + Moon Phases

Here are the phases of the Moon for November.

You can stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov.

I’m Chelsea Gohd from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month.

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

What’s Up

Skywatching

Galaxies

Stars

Read this press release in English here.

La NASA ofrecerá un evento en vivo (en inglés) a las 3 p.m. EST del miércoles 19 de noviembre para compartir imágenes del cometa interestelar 3I/ATLAS captadas por varias misiones de la agencia. El evento tendrá lugar en el Centro de Vuelo Espacial Goddard de la NASA, en Greenbelt, Maryland.

El cometa 3I/ATLAS, descubierto el 1 de julio por el observatorio ATLAS (por las siglas en inglés de Sistema de Última Alerta de Impacto Terrestre de Asteroides), financiado por la NASA. El cometa es el tercer objeto identificado hasta la fecha que ha entrado en nuestro sistema solar procedente de otra parte de la galaxia. Aunque no supone ninguna amenaza para la Tierra y no se acercará a menos de 273 millones de kilómetros (170 millones de millas) de nuestro planeta, el cometa pasó a menos de 30 millones de kilómetros (19 millones de millas) de Marte a principios de octubre.

El evento se retransmitirá en NASA+, la aplicación de la NASA, el sitio web y el canal de YouTube de la agencia, y Amazon Prime.

Entre los participantes en la sesión informativa, que proceden de la sede central de la NASA en Washington, se encuentran:

• Amit Kshatriya, administrador asociado de la NASA
• Nicky Fox, administradora asociada, Dirección de Misiones Científicas
• Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director interino, División de Astrofísica
• Tom Statler, científico jefe para cuerpos pequeños del sistema solar.

Para participar virtualmente en el evento NASA Live, los miembros de los medios de comunicación deben enviar su nombre completo, afiliación mediática, dirección de correo electrónico y número de teléfono a más tardar dos horas antes del inicio del evento a Molly Wasser: molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov. Los miembros del público también podrán hacer preguntas utilizando #AskNASA en las redes sociales, y sus preguntas podrían ser respondidas, en inglés y en tiempo real, durante la transmisión. También contamos con un experto en la materia con disponibilidad limitada para entrevistas de seguimiento en español. Para solicitar una entrevista en español, póngase en contacto con María José Viñas: maria-jose.vinasgarcia@nasa.gov

Recursos de misiones científicas de la NASA proporcionan a Estados Unidos la capacidad única de observar a 3I/ATLAS prácticamente durante todo el tiempo que permanecerá en nuestra vecindad celeste y estudiar, con instrumentos científicos complementarios y desde diferentes direcciones, cómo se comporta el cometa. Estos instrumentos incluyen tanto naves espaciales en todo el sistema solar como observatorios terrestres.

Para más información sobre 3I/ATLAS, visite:

https://ciencia.nasa.gov/sistema-solar/cometa-3i-atlas/ (español)
https://go.nasa.gov/3I-ATLAS(inglés)

-fin-

Karen Fox / Molly Wasser / María José Viñas
Sede central, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov / maria-jose.vinasgarcia@nasa.gov

Lee este comunicado de prensa en español aquí.

NASA will host a live event at 3 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Nov. 19, to share imagery of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS collected by a number of the agency’s missions. The event will take place at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Comet 3I/ATLAS, discovered by the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) observatory on July 1, is only the third object ever identified as entering our solar system from elsewhere in the galaxy. While it poses no threat to Earth and will get no closer than 170 million miles to Earth, the comet flew within 19 million miles of Mars in early October.

The event will air on NASA+, the NASA app, the agency’s website and YouTube channel, and Amazon Prime.

Briefing participants include:

• NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya
• Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate
• Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director, Astrophysics Division
• Tom Statler, lead scientist for solar system small bodies

To participate virtually in the NASA Live event, members of the media must send their full name, media affiliation, email address, and phone number no later than two hours before the start of the event to Molly Wasser at: molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov. Members of the public also may ask questions, which may be answered in real time during the broadcast, by using #AskNASA on social media.

Assets within NASA’s science missions give the United States the unique capability to observe 3I/ATLAS almost the entire time it passes through our celestial neighborhood, and study – with complementary scientific instruments and from different directions – how the comet behaves. These assets include both spacecraft across the solar system, as well as ground-based observatories.

For more information on 3I/ATLAS, visit:

https://go.nasa.gov/3I-ATLAS

-end-

Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov

A supermoon, and meteor showers from the Draconids and Orionids

A supermoon takes over the sky, the Draconid meteor shower peeks through, and the Orionid meteor shower shines bright.

Skywatching Highlights

• Oct. 6: The October supermoon
• Oct. 6-10: The Draconid meteor shower
• Oct. 21: The Orionid meteor shower peaks (full duration Sept. 26 – Nov. 22)

Transcript

What’s Up for October? A Supermoon takes over, the Draconid meteor shower peeks through, and the Orionid meteors sparkle across the night sky.

The evening of October 6, look up and be amazed as the full moon is bigger and brighter because – it’s a supermoon!

This evening, the moon could appear to be about 30% brighter and up to 14% larger than a typical full moon. But why?

Supermoons happen when a new moon or a full moon coincides with “perigee,” which is when the moon is at its closest to Earth all month.

So this is an exceptionally close full moon! Which explains its spectacular appearance.

And what timing – while the supermoon appears on October 6th, just a couple of days before on October 4th is “International Observe the Moon Night”!

It’s an annual, worldwide event when Moon enthusiasts come together to enjoy our natural satellite.You can attend or host a moon-viewing party, or simply observe the Moon from wherever you are.

So look up, and celebrate the moon along with people all around the world!

The supermoon will light up the sky on October 6th, but if you luck into some dark sky between October 6th and 10th, you might witness the first of two October meteor showers – the Draconids!

The Draconid meteor shower comes from debris trailing the comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner burning up in Earth’s atmosphere

These meteors originate from nearby the head of the constellation Draco the dragon in the northern sky and the shower can produce up to 10 meteors per hour!

The Draconids peak around October 8th, but if you don’t see any, you can always blame the bright supermoon and wait a few weeks until the next meteor shower – the Orionids!

The Orionid meteor shower, peaking October 21, is set to put on a spectacular show, shooting about 20 meteors per hour across the night sky. 

This meteor shower happens when Earth travels through the debris trailing behind Halley’s Comet and it burns up in our atmosphere.

The full duration of the meteor shower stretches from September 26 to November 22, but your best bet to see meteors is on October 21 before midnight until around 2 am.

This is because, not only is this night the shower’s peak, it is also the October new moon, meaning the moon will be between the Earth and the Sun, making it dark and invisible to us.

With a moonless sky, you’re much more likely to catch a fireball careening through the night.

So find a dark location after the sun has set, look to the southeast sky (if you’re in the northern hemisphere) and the northeast (if you’re in the southern hemisphere) and enjoy!

Orionid meteors appear to come from the direction of the Orion constellation but you might catch them all across the sky.

Here are the phases of the Moon for October.

You can stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov.

I’m Chelsea Gohd from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month.

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Missions

Humans in Space

Climate Change

Solar System

This story is also available in Spanish.

A new NASA mission will capture images of Earth’s invisible “halo,” the faint light given off by our planet’s outermost atmospheric layer, the exosphere, as it morphs and changes in response to the Sun. Understanding the physics of the exosphere is a key step toward forecasting dangerous conditions in near-Earth space, a requirement for protecting Artemis astronauts traveling through the region on the way to the Moon or on future trips to Mars. The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 23.

Revealing Earth’s invisible edge

In the early 1970s, scientists could only speculate about how far Earth’s atmosphere extended into space. The mystery was rooted in the exosphere, our atmosphere’s outermost layer, which begins some 300 miles up. Theorists conceived of it as a cloud of hydrogen atoms — the lightest element in existence — that had risen so high the atoms were actively escaping into space.

But the exosphere reveals itself only via a faint “halo” of ultraviolet light known as the geocorona. Pioneering scientist and engineer Dr. George Carruthers set himself the task of seeing it. After launching a few prototypes on test rockets, he developed an ultraviolet camera ready for a one-way trip to space.

In April 1972, Apollo 16 astronauts placed Carruthers’ camera on the Moon’s Descartes Highlands, and humanity got its first glimpse of Earth’s geocorona. The images it produced were as stunning for what they captured as they were for what they didn’t.

“The camera wasn’t far enough away, being at the Moon, to get the entire field of view,” said Lara Waldrop, principal investigator for the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory. “And that was really shocking — that this light, fluffy cloud of hydrogen around the Earth could extend that far from the surface.” Waldrop leads the mission from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where George Carruthers was an alumnus.

Our planet, in a new light

Today, the exosphere is thought to stretch at least halfway to the Moon. But the reasons for studying go beyond curiosity about its size.

As solar eruptions reach Earth, they hit the exosphere first, setting off a chain of reactions that sometimes culminate in dangerous space weather storms. Understanding the exosphere’s response is important to predicting and mitigating the effects of these storms. In addition, hydrogen — one of the atomic building blocks of water, or H₂O — escapes through the exosphere. Mapping that escape process will shed light on why Earth retains water while other planets don’t, helping us find exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, that might do the same.

NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, named in honor of George Carruthers, is designed to capture the first continuous movies of Earth’s exosphere, revealing its full expanse and internal dynamics.

“We’ve never had a mission before that was dedicated to making exospheric observations,” said Alex Glocer, the Carruthers mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s really exciting that we’re going to get these measurements for the first time.”

Download this video from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

Journey to L1

At 531 pounds and roughly the size of a loveseat sofa, the Carruthers spacecraft will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket along with NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) spacecraft and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s SWFO-L1 (Space Weather Follow On – Lagrange 1) space weather satellite. After launch, all three missions will commence a four-month cruise phase to Lagrange point 1 (L1), a location approximately 1 million miles closer to the Sun than Earth is. After a one-month period for science checkouts, Carruthers’ two-year science phase will begin in March 2026.

From L1, roughly four times farther away than the Moon, Carruthers will capture a comprehensive view of the exosphere using two ultraviolet cameras, a near-field imager and a wide-field imager.

“The near-field imager lets you zoom up really close to see how the exosphere is varying close to the planet,” Glocer said. “The wide-field imager lets you see the full scope and expanse of the exosphere, and how it’s changing far away from the Earth’s surface.”

The two imagers will together map hydrogen atoms as they move through the exosphere and ultimately out to space. But what we learn about atmospheric escape on our home planet applies far beyond it.

“Understanding how that works at Earth will greatly inform our understanding of exoplanets and how quickly their atmospheres can escape,” Waldrop said.

By studying the physics of Earth, the one planet we know that supports life, the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory can help us know what to look for elsewhere in the universe.

The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory mission is led by Lara Waldrop from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley leads mission implementation, design and development of the payload in collaboration with Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory. The Carruthers spacecraft was designed and built by BAE Systems. NASA’s Explorers and Heliophysics Projects Division at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the mission for the agency’s Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

By Miles Hatfield
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Explore More

3 min read

Educators Incorporate Locally-Relevant NASA Earth Data to Build Data Literacy in the Classroom

Article


6 hours ago

2 min read

Hubble Images Celestial Cigar’s Smoldering Heart

Article


9 hours ago

5 min read

NASA’s Hubble Sees White Dwarf Eating Piece of Pluto-Like Object

Article


1 day ago

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Missions

Humans in Space

Climate Change

Solar System