Carruthers Geocorona Observatory Arrives at Kennedy Space Center

  • Released Friday, July 25, 2025
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NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory arrived at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, July 21, 2025. The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a small satellite set to operate at Lagrange Point 1 (L1), an orbit point between the Earth and Sun about one million miles away. Carruthers will use its ultraviolet cameras to monitor how space weather from the Sun impacts the exosphere, the outermost part of Earth’s atmosphere. The observatory will launch as a rideshare with NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe no earlier than September 2025.

Technicians remove the protective casing covering NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Technicians remove the protective casing covering NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Technicians remove the protective casing covering NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Technicians remove the protective casing covering NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Technicians remove the protective casing covering NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Technicians remove the protective casing covering NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Technicians prepare to remove the protective casing covering NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Technicians prepare to remove the protective casing covering NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Technicians prepare to remove the protective casing covering NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Technicians prepare to remove the protective casing covering NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Technicians prepare to remove the protective casing covering NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Technicians prepare to remove the protective casing covering NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory on Monday, July 21, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Technicians offloaded NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory following the spacecraft’s arrival on Sunday, July 20, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Photo Credit: NASA/Chris Reid

Technicians offloaded NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory following the spacecraft’s arrival on Sunday, July 20, 2025, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Photo Credit: NASA/Chris Reid

NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory spacecraft arrives on Sunday, July 20, 2025, to the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Photo Credit: NASA/Leejay Lockhart

NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory spacecraft arrives on Sunday, July 20, 2025, to the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Photo Credit: NASA/Leejay Lockhart

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Friday, July 25, 2025.
This page was last updated on Friday, July 25, 2025 at 1:27 PM EDT.