SpaceX Falcon 9: IMAP, SWFO-L1, & Carruthers Missions Pre-launch | NASA

SpaceX Falcon 9: IMAP, SWFO-L1, & Carruthers Missions Pre-launch | NASA

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), the agency’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) spacecraft atop stands vertical at Launch Complex 39A as the sun sets on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The missions will each focus on different effects of the solar wind—the continuous stream of particles emitted by the Sun—and space weather—the changing conditions in space driven by the Sun—from their origins at the Sun to their farthest reaches billions of miles away at the edge of our solar system. 

Launch is targeted for 7:30 a.m. EDT, Wednesday Sept. 24, 2025, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Weather is currently 90% favorable.

The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) will soon be on its mission to explore and map the heliosphere—the invisible cosmic shield surrounding our solar system—and to answer some great unknowns about how particles accelerate in the solar wind.

Press Release "Princeton in space: IMAP prepares for launch": 
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2025/09/17/princeton-space-imap-prepares-launch

Learn more about IMAP: 
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/imap/ 
https://imap.princeton.edu/

NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a small satellite that will observe Earth’s outermost atmospheric layer, the exosphere. It will image the faint glow of ultraviolet light from this region, called the geocorona, to better understand how space weather impacts our planet. The Carruthers mission continues the legacy of the Apollo era, expanding on measurements first taken during Apollo 16.

The SWFO-L1 spacecraft will monitor space weather and detect solar storms in advance, serving as an early warning beacon for potentially disruptive space weather, helping safeguard Earth’s critical infrastructure and technological-dependent industries. The SWFO-L1 spacecraft is the first NOAA observatory designed specifically for and fully dedicated to continuous, operational space weather observations.

Image Credit: SpaceX
Date: Sept. 22, 2025

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