Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe
Welcome to IMAP, the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe!
Launching in 2025, the IMAP mission simultaneously investigates two of the most important issues in space physics today — the acceleration of Charged particles (electrons, protons, and ions) that are moving very fast (high energy). If the particles originate at the Sun, they are known as Solar Energetic particles (SEPs). and interaction of the A stream of charged particles, mostly protons and electrons, that escapes into the Sun's outer atmosphere at high speeds and streams out into the solar system in all directions. with the interstellar medium.
This revolutionary mission includes a suite of 10 instruments that work together to resolve fundamental scientific questions about the local interstellar medium, the boundaries that surround our solar system, and how particles are accelerated to high energies in space.
IMAP offers wide-ranging and groundbreaking opportunities for scientific discovery. For example, IMAP reveals how Charged atomic particles moving in space with very high energies and velocities close to the speed of light; most originate beyond the solar system, but some of relatively low energy area produced in solar flares (called Solar Energetic Particles), and some intermediate energy, called anomalous cosmic rays, are produced at the edge of our solar system. are filtered by the The bubble-like region surrounding the solar system inflated by the solar wind, shielding the solar system from interstellar radiation.. These particles pose risks to astronauts and technological systems. They may even play a role in the formation and presence of life itself in the The totality of all space and time; all that is, has been, and will be..
The IMAP science team consists of many of the world’s leaders in instrumentation, data analysis, An idea in science which is supported by numerous pieces of evidence, and which has thus far withstood the rigors of testing by other scientists. It is different from a hypothesis, which is an idea based on observations but which has not yet been tested, or does not have further evidence supporting it. Theory in the scientific sense is very different from the colloquial definition, where a theory is essentially a guess. Examples include the Big Bang theory, the theory of gravitation, and the theory of evolution. & modeling, and understanding of particle acceleration and the global heliosphere. The mission is led by PI Prof. David McComas in the Space Physics at Princeton Group. Together, IMAP’s 10 instruments provide the first comprehensive in-situ and remote global observations to discover the fundamental physical processes that control our solar system’s evolving space environment. Additional information about the mission can be found in the Open Access IMAP Paper.
IMAP Spacecraft Assembly - Live!
[This video has no sound] Welcome to the 24-hour livestream video feed from inside the clean room at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Maryland, where the IMAP spacecraft is being assembled. This is a LIVE behind-the-scenes look at the integration and testing (I&T) for the spacecraft.
Over the course of the next few months, engineers will install the spacecraft harness, electronics, communications systems, thermal systems, propulsion, batteries, and many more complex systems to make the spacecraft work. Additionally, all 10 of IMAP’s instruments will arrive from around the world and be integrated with the spacecraft one by one. Finally, the spacecraft will begin testing before being sent to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for final testing prior to launch.
Learn more about the beginning of IMAP's Integration and Testing!
News
By Hayley Dunning
Join our researchers as they install their instrument on NASA’s IMAP spacecraft, set to launch next year on a mission to study the A stream of charged particles, mostly protons and electrons, that escapes into the Sun's outer atmosphere at high speeds and streams out into the solar system in all directions..
The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft will observe and map the Sun’s The bubble-like region surrounding the solar system inflated by the solar wind, shielding the solar system from interstellar radiation. – the volume of space filled with particles streaming out from…