Image Credit: Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences
This is an edited translation of the original article written in Polish.
The first research instrument designed and built entirely in Poland for a NASA space mission was successfully integrated into the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft in June 2024. This groundbreaking heliospheric mission is set to launch as early as September 2025.
Scientists and engineers at the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences (CBK PAN) worked tirelessly on the GLObal solar Wind Structure (GLOWS) instrument up until its shipment to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, in August 2024.
“We were running tests almost until the last day before shipment,’ says CBK PAN professor and The GLObal Solar Wind Structure (GLOWS) instrument investigates the structure of the solar wind and how it shifts during the solar cycle. GLOWS also investigates the distribution of the helioglow found in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) range of the Sun’s light using a non-imaging single-pixel photometer that will collect and count Lyman-α photons found in the helioglow as IMAP spins on its axis. Team Lead, Maciej Bzowski, PhD. “An additional month-long campaign of thermal, vibration, electromagnetic and functional tests of GLOWS was needed, with the most important tests conducted in CBK PAN’s thermal-vacuum chamber.”
Once final tests were completed, GLOWS was carefully packed and transported from CBK PAN in Poland to APL in the United States. Upon arrival in the APL cleanroom, the instrument underwent further testing before being integrated into the IMAP spacecraft. Dr. Roman Wawrzaszek, GLOWS Systems Engineer, and Kamil Jasiński, GLOWS Electronic Lead, accompanied the instrument to participate in the integration and testing process.
“After each instrument is integrated, the spacecraft undergoes extensive testing,” explains Prof. Bzowski. “These tests fall into two main types: those concerning how individual instruments interact with the satellite, and comprehensive tests examining the operation of the entire observatory - the spacecraft along with all its scientific instruments.”
Following launch, IMAP will undergo a commissioning phase lasting several weeks. In the first few days, each instrument will be “turned on” and calibrated for the various observations conducted in the IMAP mission. “In the weeks after launch, we will fine-tune GLOWS to ensure optimal performance before the science operations phase begins,” adds Dr. Maciej Bzowski.
GLOWS is a An optical instrument used to measure the brightness of light within a specific range of wavelengths. It is commonly used in remote sensing techniques and can be configured to view the sky in a specific direction or sweep across a particular area. designed to study the three-dimensional structure 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. and its evolution over the The approximately 11-year quasi-periodic variation in frequency or number of sunspots, coronal mass ejections, solar flares, and other solar activity caused by internal restructuring of the solar magnetic field that results in a flipping of the solar magnetic poles every solar maximum.. Additionally, its observations will provide new insights into the The number of specified items or components found in a defined space. of ISN H is a normal hydrogen atom consisting of a single proton-electron pair, making it neutral, or without a charge. It is the most abundant species of gas found in the ISM, as well as the outer heliosheath and local interstellar medium (LISM). (Interstellar neutral hydrogen is a normal hydrogen atom consisting of a single proton-electron pair, making it neutral, or without a charge. It is the most abundant species of gas found in the ISM, as well as the outer heliosheath and local interstellar medium (LISM).) and the Usually refers to electromagnetic waves, such as light, radio, infrared, X-rays, ultraviolet; also sometimes used to refer to atomic particles of high energy, such as electrons (beta-radiation), helium nuclei (alpha-radiation), and so on. pressure that acts on hydrogen atoms in the The bubble-like region surrounding the solar system inflated by the solar wind, shielding the solar system from interstellar radiation..
The instrument will observe the hydrogen backscatter glow, or The helioglow results from the interaction between interstellar neutral hydrogen atoms (ISN H), uncharged particles from outside our solar system, and a specific type of photon found in the Sun’s light emissions. These photons, called Lyman- α photons, are found in a narrow band of UV light that is invisible to human eyes. Occasionally, an ISN H atom that passed through the heliosphere boundary is excited by a Lyman-alpha photon, briefly boosting it into a higher energetic state. The atom can't be excited for very long, so it almost immediately drops back to the lowest energetic state, emitting a Lyman-α photon to take away this extra energy. The re-emitted photons form what we call the helioglow. Because UV light is invisible to human eyes, we can't see the helioglow, but we can detect it. The GLOWS instrument uses special sensors designed to collect and count the glowing particles that have a very specific amount of excited UV energy., produced when neutral hydrogen atoms are excited by intense solar radiation in the Lyman-α The part of the electromagnetic spectrum whose radiation has somewhat smaller wavelengths than optical radiation but longer wavelengths than X-rays. Because ultraviolet light is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, ultraviolet astronomy is performed in space. band. These atoms absorb the Lyman-α photons and re-emit them in random directions, creating the helioglow that GLOWS is designed to detect. The intensity of the helioglow observed in the vicinity of the Earth varies, depending on the position of the observer and the phase of the solar cycle.
IMAP is a PI-led mission. The Principal Investigator is Professor David J. McComas from Princeton University. He leads a team of 25 partner institutions. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, manages the mission development, builds the IMAP spacecraft, and provides mission support. Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) of the University of Boulder, CO, provides mission support and mission data center. In addition to those named, the University of New Hampshire, Southwest Research Institute, and Los Alamos National Laboratory from the USA and Imperial College London, UK, among others, are participating in the mission.
IMAP is the fifth mission in the portfolio of NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes (STP) program, part of the The study of the Sun and its connection to the solar system, including the physical processes that occur in the space environment. Division in NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The IMAP mission is made possible by the incredible collaboration of 19 national partners and six international partners.
The implementation of the GLOWS experiment as part of NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) space mission is funded by the Polish national budget through an agreement between the Polish Ministry of Education and Science and NASA.
Learn more on the Science in Poland website.