Behind The Scenes: IMAP, SWFO-L1 & Carruthers Missions Pre-launch | NASA
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's SWFO-L1 spacecraft and NASA’s IMAP and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory stands vertical at Launch Complex 39A during early morning on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with NASA’s IMAP and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's SWFO-L1 spacecraft attached, rolls to Launch Pad 39A on September 21, 2025, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with NASA’s IMAP and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's SWFO-L1 spacecraft attached, rolls to Launch Pad 39A on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's SWFO-L1, along with NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory fully integrated for launch.
Technicians integrate NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On Lagrange - 1 (SWFO-L1) satellite to the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter Array Ring (ESPA) inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025.
Technicians integrate NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On Lagrange - 1 (SWFO-L1) satellite to the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter Array Ring (ESPA) inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025.
The integration of the rideshares prepares for the next milestone of attaching NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) Sun mapping observatory to a payload adapter and stacking all three observatories together to prepare them for encapsulation in the payload fairing.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's SWFO-L1 Observatory successfully positioned above a work stand during pre-launch processing at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Technicians use a crane to lift the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) Observatory above a work stand for integrations on Friday, July 25, 2025, during prelaunch processing at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched and deployed NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), the agency’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) spacecraft. Launch took place on schedule at 7:30 a.m. EDT, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA'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.
The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) will explore and map the heliosphere—the invisible cosmic shield surrounding our solar system—to answer great unknowns about how particles accelerate in the solar wind.
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.
Credit: SpaceX/NOAA/BAE Space & Mission Systems
Dates: Sept. 21-24, 2025
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