NASA Chooses Spacex for Its Study on Interstellar Boundary

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NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has officially decided to give the task of the studying the magnetic interstellar boundary also called heliosphere to SpaceX. It will provide launch services to SpaceX for the same. The estimated cost of this mission is USD 109 million and it will give better understanding to the researchers regarding the magnetic barrier surrounding the solar system.

To study this protective bubble NASA has decided to use SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. IMAP (International Mapping and Acceleration Probe) will help the researchers to better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, a magnetic barrier surrounding our solar system. This region is where the constant flow of particles from our sun, called the solar wind, collides with winds from other stars. This collision limits the amount of harmful cosmic radiation entering the heliosphere.

IMAP will be stationed at a stable point between the Earth and sun known as the Lagrange 1 point, where it will map the interstellar particles that punch through the heliosphere and study how they’re accelerated through space, according to NASA’s mission description. The Lunar Trailblazer probe launching with IMAP is a small spacecraft designed to study water on moon. A space weather-tracking probe, called the Space Weather Follow-On Lagrange 1 mission, will also launch with IMAP for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Two other payloads, both heliophysics missions for NASA, will join IMAP on the launch but have not yet been announced, the space agency said.

The official statement by NASA read as follows:
SpaceX will launch the International Mapping and Acceleration Probe or IMAP, for NASA in October 2024 under a $109.4 million agreement. The mission will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 pad at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and also carry four smaller payloads, including the moon-bound Lunar Trailblazer probe.

SpaceX’s official twitter handle read:
Falcon 9 will launch @NASA’s super cool Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), which will help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, a magnetic barrier surrounding our solar system.