Watch the video to learn how imaging the Sun’s corona and the solar wind together will help scientists better understand the entire inner heliosphere — Sun, solar wind, and Earth — as a single connected system.
The PUNCH mission is led by Southwest Research Institute’s office in Boulder, Colorado. The mission is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
For more information visit science.nasa.gov/mission/punch", "items": [], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 377213, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14773/#media_group_377213", "widget": "Video player", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.
Music Credit: “Crafted with Science Instrumental” by Zak McNeil [ASCAP] via Universal Production Music
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"All four PUNCH fields of view combine to create a rotating trefoil shape as the four spacecraft orbit Earth. The field of view is 90 degrees across. This simulated image sequence, used to test the ground processing software, shows a simulated CME crossing a digital solar system at 500x real time. The SOC team used computer simulations of space weather events to create artificial PUNCH data and demonstrate that the analysis software will work properly, removing stars and other bright objects from the images to reveal the solar wind and space weather.
Credit: NASA/Southwest Research Institute
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Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.
Complete transcript available.
Music Credit: “PRAXIS I” by Alexis Francois Georges Delong [SACEM] via Universal Production Music
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"Ignition, and liftoff! At 11:10 p.m. EDT (8:10 p.m. PDT) March 11, 2025, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base’s Space Launch Complex 4 East, carrying NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) and PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) missions.SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) will orbit Earth for a two-year prime mission and create a three-dimensional map of the cosmos. This will help scientists answer major questions about what happened in the first second after the big bang, how galaxies form and evolve, and the origins and abundance of water and other key ingredients for life in our galaxy.Ride-sharing with SPHEREx was NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, which will study the outer portion of the Sun, the corona, to understand how solar wind forms.For more information on SPHEREx: nasa.gov/spherexFor more information on PUNCH: science.nasa.gov/mission/punch || ", "release_date": "2025-03-17T09:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-03-17T09:13:47.757874-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1153470, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014803/JPL-20250313-SPHERXf-0001-SPHEREx_and_PUNCH_Launch~orig.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "JPL-20250313-SPHERXf-0001-SPHEREx_and_PUNCH_Launch~orig.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Highlights from the March 11, 2025, launch of NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope, which will observe hundreds of millions of galaxies near and far, mapping the entire sky in 102 wavelengths that are invisible to the human eye. The spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:10 p.m. EST (8:10 p.m. PDT).Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 14784, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14784/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "PUNCH Mission Media Teleconference", "description": "NASA held a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EST on Tuesday, February 4, to share information about the agency’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, which is targeted to launch no earlier than Thursday, February 27, 2025.The agency’s PUNCH mission is a constellation of four small satellites. When they arrive in low Earth orbit, the satellites will make global, 3D observations of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, and help NASA learn how the mass and energy there become solar wind. By imaging the Sun’s corona and the solar wind together, scientists hope to better understand the entire inner heliosphere – Sun, solar wind, and Earth – as a single connected system.The PUNCH mission will share a ride to space with NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) space telescope on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.The Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, leads the PUNCH mission. The mission is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.To learn more about PUNCH, please visit: nasa.gov/punch || ", "release_date": "2025-02-13T14:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-02-13T14:21:47.422664-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1152205, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014700/a014784/NASAs_PUNCH_Mission_to_Launch_to_Study_Solar_Wind_Media_Teleconference.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "NASAs_PUNCH_Mission_to_Launch_to_Study_Solar_Wind_Media_Teleconference.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Participants include:Joe Westlake, heliophysics division director, NASA HeadquartersNicholeen Viall, PUNCH mission scientist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterCraig DeForest, PUNCH principal investigator, Southwest Research Institute", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 14783, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14783/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA Interview Opportunity: Two Missions, One Rocket: One Shared Goal", "description": "Assocated cut b-roll will be posted by 5 p.m. EST on Monday, Feb 24. || SPHEREx_PUNCH_Live_Shots_Banner.jpg (1800x720) [495.3 KB] || SPHEREx_PUNCH_Live_Shots_Banner_print.jpg (1024x409) [260.6 KB] || SPHEREx_PUNCH_Live_Shots_Banner_searchweb.png (320x180) [111.2 KB] || SPHEREx_PUNCH_Live_Shots_Banner_thm.png [8.0 KB] || ", "release_date": "2025-02-13T12:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-08-05T13:35:46.152098-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1152149, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014700/a014783/SPHEREx_PUNCH_Live_Shots_Banner.jpg", "filename": "SPHEREx_PUNCH_Live_Shots_Banner.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Assocated cut b-roll will be posted by 5 p.m. EST on Monday, Feb 24.", "width": 1800, "height": 720, "pixels": 1296000 } }, { "id": 14771, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14771/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "PUNCH Instruments", "description": "NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, or PUNCH mission, is a constellation of four small satellites in low Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the Sun's corona to better understand how the mass and energy there becomes the solar wind that fills the solar system. By imaging the Sun’s corona and the solar wind together, scientists hope to better understand the entire inner heliosphere – Sun, solar wind, and Earth – as a single connected system.Three of the PUNCH satellites will carry a Wide Field Imager (WFI), and the fourth will carry the Narrow Field Imager (NFI).The Narrow Field Imager (NFI)The Narrow Field Image (NFI) is a coronagraph, a type of device that blocks out the bright light from the Sun to better see details in the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona. The coronagraph will have a similar field of view as the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) C3 field, from 6 to 32 solar radii on the sky, and it will view the corona in both polarized and unpolarized light.Wide Field Imager (WFI)The Wide Field Imager (WFI) is a heliospheric imager, a device that provides views from 18 to 180 solar radii (45 degrees) away from the Sun in the sky. Heliospheric imagers use an artificial “horizon” and deep baffles to view the very faint outermost portion of the solar corona and the solar wind itself. The instrument reduces direct sunlight by over 16 orders of magnitude, which is like the ratio between the mass of a human and the mass of a cold virus. The wide-field imaging optics are based on the design of the famous Nagler eyepieces, which are known among observational astronomers for their clarity, low distortion, wide field, and achromatic focus. Three of the PUNCH spacecraft will carry a WFI instrument. || ", "release_date": "2025-01-24T14:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-02-11T10:08:04.490942-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1141548, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014700/a014771/NFI_LEO_Animation.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "NFI_LEO_Animation.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Animation depicting the PUNCH Narrow Field Imager, or NFI instrument, from low Earth orbit. The NFI is designed to capture high-resolution images of the Sun's corona.Credit: NASA’s Conceptual Image Lab/Kim Dongjae, Walt Feimer", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 14770, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14770/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "PUNCH Satellites Test Operations at Vandenberg Space Force Base", "description": "NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, or PUNCH mission, is a constellation of four small satellites in low Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the Sun's corona to better understand how the mass and energy there becomes the solar wind that fills the solar system.By imaging the Sun’s corona and the solar wind together, scientists hope to better understand the entire inner heliosphere – Sun, solar wind, and Earth – as a single connected system.The PUNCH mission is led by Southwest Research Institute’s office in Boulder, Colorado. The mission is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. || ", "release_date": "2025-01-24T09:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-01-27T14:36:30.442291-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1141479, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014700/a014770/KSC-20250119-PH-ATR01_0349~orig_print.jpg", "filename": "KSC-20250119-PH-ATR01_0349~orig_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Technicians use an overheard crane to lift NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) spacecraft onto a work stand for testing operations at the Astrotech Processing Facility on Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025.Credit: USSF 30th Space Wing/Antonio Ram", "width": 1024, "height": 683, "pixels": 699392 } }, { "id": 14768, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14768/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "PUNCH Satellites Solar Array Deployment Test", "description": "NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, or PUNCH mission, is a constellation of four small satellites in low Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the Sun's corona to better understand how the mass and energy there becomes the solar wind that fills the solar system.By imaging the Sun’s corona and the solar wind together, scientists hope to better understand the entire inner heliosphere – Sun, solar wind, and Earth – as a single connected system.The PUNCH mission is led by Southwest Research Institute’s office in Boulder, Colorado. The mission is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. || ", "release_date": "2025-01-23T17:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-01-30T14:14:44.008289-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1141422, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014700/a014768/KSC-20250121-PH-ANV01_0002~orig_print.jpg", "filename": "KSC-20250121-PH-ANV01_0002~orig_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Crews conduct a solar array deployment test on the spacecraft of NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) satellites at Astrotech Space Operations located on Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.Credit: USSF 30th Space Wing/Alex Valdez", "width": 1024, "height": 683, "pixels": 699392 } }, { "id": 14767, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14767/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "PUNCH Satellites Arrival at Vandenberg Space Force Base", "description": "NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, or PUNCH mission, is a constellation of four small satellites in low Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the Sun's corona to better understand how the mass and energy there becomes the solar wind that fills the solar system.By imaging the Sun’s corona and the solar wind together, scientists hope to better understand the entire inner heliosphere – Sun, solar wind, and Earth – as a single connected system.The PUNCH mission is led by Southwest Research Institute’s office in Boulder, Colorado. The mission is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. || ", "release_date": "2025-01-23T16:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-01-23T16:22:18.718501-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1141370, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014700/a014767/KSC-20250118-PH-ANV01_0005~orig_print.jpg", "filename": "KSC-20250118-PH-ANV01_0005~orig_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A transport truck carrying four small satellites of NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) arrives at Astrotech Space Operations located inside Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025.Credit: USSF 30th Space Wing/Alex Valdez", "width": 1024, "height": 682, "pixels": 698368 } }, { "id": 14765, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14765/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "PUNCH Assembly and Testing", "description": "NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, or PUNCH mission, is a constellation of four small satellites in low Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the Sun's corona to better understand how the mass and energy there becomes the solar wind that fills the solar system.By imaging the Sun’s corona and the solar wind together, scientists hope to better understand the entire inner heliosphere – Sun, solar wind, and Earth – as a single connected system.The PUNCH mission is led by Southwest Research Institute’s office in Boulder, Colorado. The mission is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. || ", "release_date": "2025-01-23T15:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-01-23T15:41:27.856138-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1141329, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014700/a014765/14765_PUNCH_001.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "14765_PUNCH_001.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Southwest Research Institute conducts final assembly and testing of the PUNCH spacecraft in its cleanroom facilities in San Antonio, Texas.Credit: NASA/SwRI", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 14640, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14640/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Touching the Sun with Solar Stones", "description": "In August 2024, the Heliophysics Big Year theme is Kids and Education. In collaboration with NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission and the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, Creative Technology and Design students at the ATLAS Institute at University of Colorado Boulder have developed tactile representations of what many scholars believe to be the earliest known record of solar observations. Titled “Solar Stones,” the exhibit displays two famous petroglyphs, or rock carvings, found in Chaco Culture National Historical Park located in northwestern New Mexico. One petroglyph is believed to represent a total solar eclipse occurring on July 11, 1097, and the other a solar marker that indicates the annual equinoxes and solstices. The project is on display at Fiske Planetarium located on the University of Colorado Boulder campus.The Heliophysics Big Year is a global celebration of the Sun’s influence on Earth and the entire solar system. From Oct. 14, 2023, to Dec. 24, 2024, we are challenging you to participate in as many Sun-related activities as you can.For each month from October 2023 to December 2024, the Heliophysics Big Year will celebrate under a theme, sharing opportunities to participate in many solar science events from watching eclipses to joining citizen science projects. During the Heliophysics Big Year, participation isn’t limited to science – NASA invites everyone to celebrate the Sun with activities including dance, fashion, sustainability, and more. || ", "release_date": "2024-08-13T08:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2024-07-29T14:07:42.787959-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1095732, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014600/a014640/PUNCH_SolarStones_thumbnail.jpg", "filename": "PUNCH_SolarStones_thumbnail.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Music Credit: “Glass Eyes” by Evan William Conway [ASCAP] via Universal Production Music", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } }, { "id": 20388, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20388/", "page_type": "Animation", "title": "PUNCH Spacecraft Beauty Passes", "description": "NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission is a constellation of four small satellites in Sun-synchronous, low Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the young solar wind, from the outermost solar atmosphere to the inner heliopshere. Images of unprecedented quality will help to close a 60-year gap in measurements of understanding of what occurs in this region of space. PUNCH will share a ride to space with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Re-ionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission. The missions launched on March 11, 2025, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.Get the latest updates on NASA's PUNCH blog. || ", "release_date": "2023-12-05T14:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-08-22T11:26:05.819423-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1052261, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a020000/a020300/a020388/H_0823_Punch_SunEnding_V01.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "H_0823_Punch_SunEnding_V01.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Conceptual AnimationA conceptual animation of the PUNCH spacecraft. Working together, the four suitcase-sized satellites will create a combined field of view and map the region where the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, transitions to the solar wind (the constant outflow of material from the Sun),Credit: NASA's Conceptual Image Lab", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }