Three Missions Launch to Track Space Weather (Official NASA Trailer)

Soon, there will be three new ways to study the Sun’s influence across the solar system with the launch of a trio of NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) spacecraft. Launching September 23, 2025, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the missions include NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and NOAA’s SWFO-L1 (Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1) spacecraft.

The missions will each study 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. Research from the missions will help us better understand the Sun’s influence on Earth’s habitability, map our home in space, and protect satellites and voyaging astronauts from space weather threats.

Watch the launch with NASA from anywhere in the world. We will provide live broadcast coverage on September 23 from 6:40 a.m. to about 9:15 a.m. EDT (1040 to 1415 UTC) on NASA+, Amazon Prime, Twitch, YouTube, and more. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

Media Resources
• Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP)
• Carruthers Geocorona Observatory
• Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1)