NASA and NOAA Launch Three Space Science Missions to Study Space Weather.

On September 24, 2025, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), recently launched three missions—Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), Space Weather Follow-On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1), and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory (CGO)—to study space weather and its effects on Earth and space-based technologies.

      - The missions were launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA.

      - IMAP, valued at approximately USD 600 million, is a heliophysics mission designed to study the boundary of the heliosphere—the protective magnetic bubble surrounding the solar system created by the solar wind—and its interaction with the interstellar medium.

      - Operated by NOAA, SWFO-L1 monitors space weather in real-time to safeguard Earth’s technological systems and astronauts. Positioned at the Sun-Earth L1 point, about 1.5 million km from Earth, it observes solar wind and Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) before they reach Earth, providing critical lead time for space weather forecasting.

Main Point :-   (i) CGO is the first mission dedicated to studying Earth’s exosphere, the outermost atmospheric layer, by observing ultraviolet (UV) light emitted by neutral hydrogen atoms. The mission is named after Dr. George R. Carruthers, who developed the first UV telescope for the Apollo 16 Moon mission in 1972.

      (ii) The three missions reflect NASA–NOAA collaboration in advancing space science. All missions were launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center, demonstrating the role of private-public partnership in modern space exploration.

(iii) These missions are expected to enhance understanding of heliophysics, space weather, and the Earth’s outer atmosphere, helping to protect satellites, communication systems, and astronauts while improving predictive capabilities for solar events affecting Earth and space-based technologies.
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