NASA IMAP Media Teleconference

NASA will hold a media teleconference to discuss the agency’s upcoming Sun and space weather missions, IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory. The IMAP mission will map the boundaries of our heliosphere, the vast bubble created by the Sun’s wind that encapsulates our entire solar system. As a modern-day celestial cartographer, IMAP will explore how the heliosphere interacts with interstellar space, as well as chart the range of particles that fill the space between the planets. The IMAP mission also will support near real-time observations of the solar wind and energetic particles. These energetic particles can produce hazardous space weather that can impact spacecraft and other NASA hardware as the agency explores deeper into space, including at the Moon under the Artemis campaign. NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory will image the ultraviolet glow of Earth’s exosphere, the outermost region of our planet’s atmosphere. This data will help scientists understand how space weather from the Sun shapes the exosphere and ultimately impacts our planet. The first observation of this glow – called the geocorona – was captured during Apollo 16, when a telescope designed and built by George Carruthers was deployed on the Moon. Participants include: - Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington - Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla, director, Moon to Mars Space Weather Analysis Office, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland - David J. McComas, IMAP principal investigator, Princeton University - Lara Waldrop, Carruthers Geocorona Observatory principal investigator, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign