Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.
Complete transcript available.
Music Credit: \"Time in Motion” by Rick Hearson [PRS], “Proud Patterns by Paul Joseph Smith [PRS] from Universal Production Music", "items": [ { "id": 491789, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1158162, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014887/14887_Thumbnail.jpg", "filename": "14887_Thumbnail.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Produced VideoWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.Music Credit: \"Time in Motion” by Rick Hearson [PRS], “Proud Patterns by Paul Joseph Smith [PRS] from Universal Production Music", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } }, { "id": 491790, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1158163, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014887/14887_Thumbnail_print.jpg", "filename": "14887_Thumbnail_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Produced VideoWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.Music Credit: \"Time in Motion” by Rick Hearson [PRS], “Proud Patterns by Paul Joseph Smith [PRS] from Universal Production Music", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 491791, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1158164, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014887/14887_Thumbnail_searchweb.png", "filename": "14887_Thumbnail_searchweb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a SmallSat mission at Lagrange Point 1 (L1) where it will use an advanced ultraviolet imager to monitor Earth’s exosphere — the outermost layer of the atmosphere — and the exosphere’s response to solar-driven space weather. Carruthers is poised to become the first SmallSat to operate at L1 and the first to deliver continuous exospheric observations from this vantage point.\n\nThe Carruthers Geocorona Observatory mission is led by Lara Waldrop at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is managed by the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, CA. NASA’s Heliophysics Explorers Program Office at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides mission oversight to the project for the agency’s Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.\n\nLearn more about the mission: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/carruthers-geocorona-observatory/", "width": 180, "height": 320, "pixels": 57600 } }, { "id": 491792, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1158165, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014887/14887_Thumbnail_web.png", "filename": "14887_Thumbnail_web.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Produced VideoWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.Music Credit: \"Time in Motion” by Rick Hearson [PRS], “Proud Patterns by Paul Joseph Smith [PRS] from Universal Production Music", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } }, { "id": 491793, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": 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A Carruthers Geocorona Observatory overview created for the launch broadcast.
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Buchanan", "employer": "eMITS" } ] }, { "role": "Talent", "people": [ { "name": "Alex Glocer", "employer": "NASA/GSFC" }, { "name": "Lara Waldrop", "employer": "University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign" } ] } ], "missions": [], "series": [ "Narrated Movies" ], "tapes": [], "papers": [], "datasets": [], "nasa_science_categories": [ "Earth", "Sun" ], "keywords": [ "Apollo 16", "Atmosphere", "Carruthers Geocorona Observatory", "Earth Science", "Geocorona", "George Carruthers", "Heliophysics", "Telescope", "Ultraviolet" ], "recommended_pages": [], "related": [ { "id": 14875, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14875/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Carruthers Geocorona Observatory Arrives at Kennedy Space Center", "description": "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. || ", "release_date": "2025-07-25T13:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-07-25T13:27:40.846860-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1157320, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014875/KSC-20250721-PH-KLS01_0013_print.jpg", "filename": "KSC-20250721-PH-KLS01_0013_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "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", "width": 1024, "height": 683, "pixels": 699392 } }, { "id": 14873, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14873/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Lagrange Point 1 Animation", "description": "Lagrange points are positions in space where objects sent there tend to stay put. At Lagrange points, the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them. These points in space can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position.Of the five Lagrange points, three are unstable and two are stable. The unstable Lagrange points - labeled L1, L2 and L3 - lie along the line connecting the two large masses. The stable Lagrange points - labeled L4 and L5 - form the apex of two equilateral triangles that have the large masses at their vertices. L4 leads the orbit of earth and L5 follows.The L1 point of the Earth-Sun system affords an uninterrupted view of the Sun and will be home to three new heliophysics missions in 2025 - NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and NOAA's Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1). || ", "release_date": "2025-07-22T17:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-07-22T17:09:38.635832-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1157200, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014873/14873_LagrangePoint1_H264.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "14873_LagrangePoint1_H264.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Credit: NASA's Conceptual Image Lab/Krystofer Kim", "width": 1024, "height": 561, "pixels": 574464 } }, { "id": 5567, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5567/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "New Missions to L1", "description": "Three missions, Carruthers, IMAP and SWFO-L1 will be launched to the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point, L1.", "release_date": "2025-07-21T18:59:59-04:00", "update_date": "2025-07-11T10:20:17.384003-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1156845, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005500/a005567/Geospace2025.New2L1.GSE.RE.clockSlate_CRTT.HD1080.00900.jpg", "filename": "Geospace2025.New2L1.GSE.RE.clockSlate_CRTT.HD1080.00900.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A visualization depicting 3 missions: SWFO, IMAP, and Carruthers' orbits. The Earth and its magnetosphere are depicted at the left of the visualization, and there is a large arrow pointing to the right. The missions orbits are all centered at a point on the arrow, which is marked with a large plus shape, and labeled \"L1\".", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 5419, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5419/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory at the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 1", "description": "The Carruthers Geocorona Obervatory observes Earth's exosphere, or geocorona, from the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 1.", "release_date": "2025-06-09T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-06-10T14:58:01.499127-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1155814, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005400/a005419/Geospace2025.Carruthers.GSE.RE.relSlate_CRTT.HD1080.00810_print.jpg", "filename": "Geospace2025.Carruthers.GSE.RE.relSlate_CRTT.HD1080.00810_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The Carruthers Geocorona Obervatory observes Earth's exosphere, or geocorona, from the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 1.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 14841, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14841/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Carruthers Geocorona Observatory Assembly & Testing at BAE Systems", "description": "The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a SmallSat mission at Lagrange Point 1 (L1) where it will use an advanced ultraviolet imager to monitor Earth’s exosphere — the outermost layer of the atmosphere — and the exosphere’s response to solar-driven space weather. Carruthers is poised to become the first SmallSat to operate at L1 and the first to deliver continuous exospheric observations from this vantage point.Led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than 2025 as a rideshare component of NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission, which will explore the boundaries of the heliosphere, the bubble that is inflated by the solar wind and surrounds the Sun and planets. The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a vital addition to NASA’s fleet of heliophysics satellites. NASA Heliophysics Division missions study a vast, interconnected system from the Sun to the space surrounding Earth and other planets to the farthest limits of the Sun’s constantly flowing streams of solar wind. || ", "release_date": "2025-05-12T09:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-05-12T09:10:44.147694-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1154999, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014841/Carruthers_B-Roll_001.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "Carruthers_B-Roll_001.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "BAE Systems personnel complete the critical lift to remove the top panel of the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory in a BAE Systems cleanroom in Boulder, Colorado.Credit: NASA/BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 14830, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14830/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Carruthers Geocorona Observatory Images", "description": "The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a SmallSat mission at Lagrange Point 1 (L1) where it will use an advanced ultraviolet imager to monitor Earth’s exosphere — the outermost layer of the atmosphere — and the exosphere’s response to solar-driven space weather. Carruthers is poised to become the first SmallSat to operate at L1 and the first to deliver continuous exospheric observations from this vantage point.Led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than 2025 as a rideshare component of NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission, which will explore the boundaries of the heliosphere, the bubble that is inflated by the solar wind and surrounds the Sun and planets. The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a vital addition to NASA’s fleet of heliophysics satellites. NASA Heliophysics Division missions study a vast, interconnected system from the Sun to the space surrounding Earth and other planets to the farthest limits of the Sun’s constantly flowing streams of solar wind. || ", "release_date": "2025-04-23T09:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-04-23T09:31:57.772114-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1154543, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014830/23-22217-CarruthersBus-Edited_print.jpg", "filename": "23-22217-CarruthersBus-Edited_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory ultraviolet spectrometer instrument awaits integration to the spacecraft at BAE Systems.Credit: NASA/BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems", "width": 1024, "height": 682, "pixels": 698368 } } ], "sources": [ { "id": 20407, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20407/", "page_type": "Animation", "title": "Carruthers Geocorona Animation", "description": "The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a SmallSat mission at Lagrange Point 1 (L1) where it will use an advanced ultraviolet imager to monitor Earth’s exosphere — the outermost layer of the atmosphere — and the exosphere’s response to solar-driven space weather. Carruthers is poised to become the first SmallSat to operate at L1 and the first to deliver continuous exospheric observations from this vantage point.In this animation, atomic hydrogen floats in Earth’s exosphere. As the lightest chemical in existence, atomic hydrogen tends to float away, or evaporate, off the top of Earth’s atmosphere. When the Sun shines on these atoms, they scatter that light in all directions, causing a glow around Earth. This fuzzy halo of light that’s given off by those exospheric atoms is called the geocorona. || ", "release_date": "2025-08-01T14:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-08-01T13:24:02.622263-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1157585, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a020000/a020400/a020407/Carruthers_Science_Explainer_4k.01000_print.jpg", "filename": "Carruthers_Science_Explainer_4k.01000_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Earth's geocorona animation.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 20405, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20405/", "page_type": "Animation", "title": "Carruthers Atmospheric Layers Animation", "description": "Earth’s atmosphere is divided into five main layers, differentiated by factors such as temperature, chemical composition, and air density. The troposphere is the lowest layer, extending from Earth's surface up to about 10 miles above it, and is where almost all weather phenomena occur. Above the troposphere is the stratosphere, which reaches up to around 31 miles. It contains the ozone layer, which absorbs harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun. Next is the mesosphere, which extends from about 31 to 53 miles above Earth. It is the coldest layer of the atmosphere, and it is where most meteors burn up upon entering. Above the mesosphere is the thermosphere, ranging from about 53 to 375 miles above Earth. Known as the upper atmosphere, this region contains the ionosphere, a region filled with charged particles that enable radio communications and where auroras often occur. The outermost layer is the exosphere, which gradually transitions into outer space. It is extremely thin and composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. Together, these layers form a protective shield that regulates Earth’s energy balance and helps sustain life. || ", "release_date": "2025-07-08T16:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-07-08T16:03:40.579313-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1156738, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a020000/a020400/a020405/Atmospheric_Layers_Full_Text_4k.00360_print.jpg", "filename": "Atmospheric_Layers_Full_Text_4k.00360_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Atmospheric layers animation with full text. ", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 14855, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14855/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Carruthers Geocorona Observatory Beauty Pass Animations", "description": "The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a SmallSat mission at Lagrange Point 1 (L1) where it will use an advanced ultraviolet imager to monitor Earth’s exosphere — the outermost layer of the atmosphere — and the exosphere’s response to solar-driven space weather. Carruthers is poised to become the first SmallSat to operate at L1 and the first to deliver continuous exospheric observations from this vantage point.Led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than 2025 as a rideshare component of NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission, which will explore the boundaries of the heliosphere, the bubble that is inflated by the solar wind and surrounds the Sun and planets. The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is a vital addition to NASA’s fleet of heliophysics satellites. NASA Heliophysics Division missions study a vast, interconnected system from the Sun to the space surrounding Earth and other planets to the farthest limits of the Sun’s constantly flowing streams of solar wind. || ", "release_date": "2025-06-06T11:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-06-06T11:51:25.636347-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1156138, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014855/Carruthers_BeautyPass_Scene001_1080p.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "Carruthers_BeautyPass_Scene001_1080p.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Animated beauty pass of the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory enroute to Earth–Sun Lagrange Point 1 (L1).Credit: NASA’s Conceptual Imaging Lab/Jonathan North\r", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } ], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }