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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
From left, Ramon Pedoto, Nathan Walkenhorst, and Tyrell Jemison review information at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The three team members developed new automation tools at Marshall for flight controllers working with the International Space Station (Credit: NASA/Tyrell Jemison Two new automation tools developed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are geared toward improving operations for flight controllers working with the International Space Station from the Huntsville Operations Support Center.
The tools, called AutoDump and Permanently Missing Intervals Checker, will free the flight control team to focus on situational awareness, anomaly response, and real-time coordination.
The space station experiences routine loss-of-signal periods based on communication coverage as the space station orbits the Earth. When signal is lost, an onboard buffer records data that could not be downlinked during that period. Following acquisition of signal, flight controllers previously had to send a command to downlink, or “dump,” the stored data.
The AutoDump tool streamlines a repetitive data downlinking command from flight controllers by detecting a routine loss-of-signal, and then autonomously sending the command to downlink data stored in the onboard buffer when the signal is acquired again. Once the data has been downlinked, the tool will automatically make an entry in the console log to confirm the downlink took place.
“Reliably and quickly sending these dump commands is important to ensure that space station payload developers can operate from the most current data,” said Michael Zekoff, manager of Space Systems Operations at Marshall.
As a direct result of this tool, we have eliminated the need to manually perform routine data dump commands by as much as 40% for normal operations.
Michael Zekoff
Space Systems Operations Manager
AutoDump was successfully deployed on Feb. 4 in support of the orbiting laboratory.
The other tool, known as the Permanently Missing Intervals Checker, is another automated process coming online that will improve team efficiency.
Permanently missing intervals are gaps in the data stream where data can be lost due to a variety of reasons, including network fluctuations. The missing intervals are generally short but are documented so the scientific community and other users have confirmation that the missing data is unable to be recovered.
“The process of checking for and documenting permanently missing intervals is challenging and incredibly time-consuming to make sure we capture all the payload impacts,” said Nathan Walkenhorst, a NASA contractor with Bailey Collaborative Solutions who serves as a flight controller specialist.
The checker will allow NASA to quickly gather and assess payload impacts, reduce disruptions to operations, and allow researchers to get better returns on their science investigations. It is expected to be deployed later this year.
In addition to Walkenhorst, Zekoff also credited Ramon Pedoto, a software architect, and Tyrell Jemison, a NASA contractor and data management coordinator with Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc, for their work in developing the automation tools. The development of the tools also requires coordination between flight control and software teams at Marshall, followed by extensive testing in both simulated and flight environments, including spacecraft operations, communications coverage, onboard anomalies, and other unexpected conditions.
“The team solicited broad review to ensure that the tool would integrate correctly with other station systems,” Zekoff said. “Automated tools are evaluated carefully to prevent unintended commanding or other consequences. Analysis of the tools included thorough characterization of the impacts, risk mitigation strategies, and approval by stakeholders across the International Space Station program.”
The Huntsville Operations Support Center provides payload, engineering, and mission operations support to the space station, the Commercial Crew Program, and Artemis missions, as well as science and technology demonstration missions. The Payload Operations Integration Center within the Huntsville Operations Support Center operates, plans, and coordinates the science experiments onboard the space station 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.
For more information on the International Space Station, visit:
www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/
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Last Updated Apr 11, 2025 EditorBeth RidgewayLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
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3 min read NASA’s IMAP Arrives at NASA Marshall For Testing in XRCF
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3 Min Read NASA’s IMAP Arrives at NASA Marshall For Testing in XRCF
On March 18, NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) arrived at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for thermal vacuum testing at the X-ray and Cryogenic Facility, which simulates the harsh conditions of space.
The IMAP mission is a modern-day celestial cartographer that will map the solar system by studying the heliosphere, a giant bubble created by the Sun’s solar wind that surrounds our solar system and protects it from harmful interstellar radiation.
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NASA’s IMAP mission being loaded into the thermal vacuum chamber of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s X-Ray and Cryogenic Facility (XRCF) in Huntsville, Alabama. IMAP arrived at Marshall March 18 and was loaded into the chamber March 19.Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Princeton/Ed Whitman Testing performed in the X-ray and Cryogenic Facility will help to assess the spacecraft before its journey toward the Sun. The IMAP mission will orbit the Sun at a location called Lagrange Point 1 (L1), which is about one million miles from Earth towards the Sun. From this location, IMAP can measure the local solar wind and scan the distant heliosphere without background from planets and their magnetic fields. The mission will use its suite of ten instruments to map the boundary of the heliosphere, analyze the composition of interstellar particles that make it through, and investigate how particles change as they move through the solar system.
Furthermore, IMAP will maintain a continuous broadcast of near real-time space weather data from five instruments aboard IMAP that will be used to test new space weather prediction models and improve our understanding of effects impacting our human exploration of space.
Team members from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, install IMAP into the XRCF’s chamber dome before the start of the thermal vacuum test. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Princeton/Ed Whitman While inside the Marshall facility, the spacecraft will undergo dramatic temperature changes to simulate the environment during launch, on the journey toward the Sun, and at its final orbiting point. The testing facility has multiple capabilities including a large thermal vacuum chamber which simulates the harsh conditions of space such as extreme temperatures and the near-total absence of an atmosphere. Simulating these conditions before launch allow scientists and engineers to identify successes and potential failures in the design of the spacecraft.
Team members from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama work to close the chamber door of the XRCF for IMAP testing. The chamber is 20 feet in diameter and 60 feet long making it one of the largest across NASA. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Princeton/Ed Whitman “The X-ray and Cryogenic Facility was an ideal testing location for IMAP given the chamber’s size, availability, and ability to meet or exceed the required test parameters including strict contamination control, shroud temperature, and vacuum level,” said Jeff Kegley, chief of Marshall’s Science Test Branch.
The facility’s main chamber is 20 feet in diameter and 60 feet long, making it the 5th largest thermal vacuum chamber at NASA. It’s the only chamber that is adjoined to an ISO 6 cleanroom — a controlled environment that limits the number and size of airborne particles to minimize contamination.
The IMAP mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, no earlier than September.
NASA’s IMAP mission was loaded into NASA Marshall’s XRCF thermal vacuum chamber where the spacecraft will undergo testing such as dramatic temperature changes to simulate the harsh environment of space. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Princeton/Ed Whitman Learn More about IMAP Media Contact:
Lane Figueroa
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Alabama
256.544.0034
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Apr 11, 2025 Related Terms
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6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
This mosaic showing the Martian surface outside of Jezero Crater was taken by NASA’s Perseverance on Dec. 25, 2024, at the site where the rover cored a sample dubbed “Silver Mountain” from a rock likely formed during Mars’ earliest geologic period.NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS The diversity of rock types along the rim of Jezero Crater offers a wide glimpse of Martian history.
Scientists with NASA’s Perseverance rover are exploring what they consider a veritable Martian cornucopia full of intriguing rocky outcrops on the rim of Jezero Crater. Studying rocks, boulders, and outcrops helps scientists understand the planet’s history, evolution, and potential for past or present habitability. Since January, the rover has cored five rocks on the rim, sealing samples from three of them in sample tubes. It’s also performed up-close analysis of seven rocks and analyzed another 83 from afar by zapping them with a laser. This is the mission’s fastest science-collection tempo since the rover landed on the Red Planet more than four years ago.
Perseverance climbed the western wall of Jezero Crater for 3½ months, reaching the rim on Dec. 12, 2024, and is currently exploring a roughly 445-foot-tall (135-meter-tall) slope the science team calls “Witch Hazel Hill.” The diversity of rocks they have found there has gone beyond their expectations.
“During previous science campaigns in Jezero, it could take several months to find a rock that was significantly different from the last rock we sampled and scientifically unique enough for sampling,” said Perseverance’s project scientist, Katie Stack Morgan of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “But up here on the crater rim, there are new and intriguing rocks everywhere the rover turns. It has been all we had hoped for and more.”
One of Perseverance’s hazard cameras captured the rover’s coring drill collecting the “Main River” rock sample on “Witch Hazel Hill” on March 10, 2025, the 1,441st Martian day, or sol, of the mission. NASA/JPL-Caltech That’s because Jezero Crater’s western rim contains tons of fragmented once-molten rocks that were knocked out of their subterranean home billions of years ago by one or more meteor impacts, including possibly the one that produced Jezero Crater. Perseverance is finding these formerly underground boulders juxtaposed with well-preserved layered rocks that were “born” billions of years ago on what would become the crater’s rim. And just a short drive away is a boulder showing signs that it was modified by water nestled beside one that saw little water in its past.
Oldest Sample Yet?
Perseverance collected its first crater-rim rock sample, named “Silver Mountain,” on Jan. 28. (NASA scientists informally nickname Martian features, including rocks and, separately, rock samples, to help keep track of them.) The rock it came from, called “Shallow Bay,” most likely formed at least 3.9 billion years ago during Mars’ earliest geologic period, the Noachian, and it may have been broken up and recrystallized during an ancient meteor impact.
About 360 feet (110 meters) away from that sampling site is an outcrop that caught the science team’s eye because it contains igneous minerals crystallized from magma deep in the Martian crust. (Igneous rocks can form deep underground from magma or from volcanic activity at the surface, and they are excellent record-keepers — particularly because mineral crystals within them preserve details about the precise moment they formed.) But after two coring attempts (on Feb. 4 and Feb. 8) fizzled due to the rock being so crumbly, the rover drove about 520 feet (160 meters) northwest to another scientifically intriguing rock, dubbed “Tablelands.”
Data from the rover’s instruments indicates that Tablelands is made almost entirely of serpentine minerals, which form when large amounts of water react with iron- and magnesium-bearing minerals in igneous rock. During this process, called serpentinization, the rock’s original structure and mineralogy change, often causing it to expand and fracture. Byproducts of the process sometimes include hydrogen gas, which can lead to the generation of methane in the presence of carbon dioxide. On Earth, such rocks can support microbial communities.
Coring Tablelands went smoothly. But sealing it became an engineering challenge.
Sealing the “Green Gardens” sample — collected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover from a rock dubbed “Tablelands” along the rim of Jezero Crater on Feb. 16, 2025 — pre-sented an engineering challenge. The sample was finally sealed on March 2.NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS Flick Maneuver
“This happened once before, when there was enough powdered rock at the top of the tube that it interfered with getting a perfect seal,” said Kyle Kaplan, a robotics engineer at JPL. “For Tablelands, we pulled out all the stops. Over 13 sols,” or Martian days, “we used a tool to brush out the top of the tube 33 times and made eight sealing attempts. We even flicked it a second time.”
During a flick maneuver, the sample handling arm — a little robotic arm in the rover’s belly — presses the tube against a wall inside the rover, then pulls the tube away, causing it to vibrate. On March 2, the combination of flicks and brushings cleaned the tube’s top opening enough for Perseverance to seal and store the serpentine-laden rock sample.
Eight days later, the rover had no issues sealing its third rim sample, from a rock called “Main River.” The alternating bright and dark bands on the rock were like nothing the science team had seen before.
Up Next
Following the collection of the Main River sample, the rover has continued exploring Witch Hazel Hill, analyzing three more rocky outcrops (“Sally’s Cove,” “Dennis Pond,” and “Mount Pearl”). And the team isn’t done yet.
“The last four months have been a whirlwind for the science team, and we still feel that Witch Hazel Hill has more to tell us,” said Stack. “We’ll use all the rover data gathered recently to decide if and where to collect the next sample from the crater rim. Crater rims — you gotta love ’em.”
More About Perseverance
A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover is characterizing the planet’s geology and past climate, to help pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet and is the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.
NASA’s Mars Sample Return Program, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), is designed to send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio and the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
For more about Perseverance:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance
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DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Apr 10, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA and SpaceX are launching the company’s 32nd commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station later this month, bringing a host of new research to the orbiting laboratory. Aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft are experiments focused on vision-based navigation, spacecraft air quality, materials for drug and product manufacturing, and advancing plant growth with less reliance on photosynthesis.
This and other research conducted aboard the space station advances future space exploration, including missions to the Moon and Mars, and provides many benefits to humanity.
Investigations traveling to the space station include:
Robotic spacecraft guidance
Smartphone Video Guidance Sensor-2 (SVGS-2) uses the space station’s Astrobee robots to demonstrate using a vision-based sensor developed by NASA to control a formation flight of small satellites. Based on a previous in-space demonstration of the technology, this investigation is designed to refine the maneuvers of multiple robots and integrate the information with spacecraft systems.
Potential benefits of this technology include improved accuracy and reliability of systems for guidance, navigation, and control that could be applied to docking crewed spacecraft in orbit and remotely operating multiple robots on the lunar or Martian surface.
Two of the space station’s Astrobee robots are used to test a vision-based guidance system for Smartphone Video Guidance Sensor (SVGS)NASA Protection from particles
During spaceflight, especially long-duration missions, concentrations of airborne particles must be kept within ranges safe for crew health and hardware performance. The Aerosol Monitors investigation tests three different air quality monitors in space to determine which is best suited to protect crew health and ensure mission success. The investigation also tests a device for distinguishing between smoke and dust. Aboard the space station, the presence of dust can cause false smoke alarms that require crew member response. Reducing false alarms could save valuable crew time while continuing to protect astronaut safety.
Better materials, better drugs
The DNA Nano Therapeutics-Mission 2 produces a special type of molecule formed by DNA-inspired, customizable building blocks known as Janus base nanomaterials. It also evaluates how well the materials reduce joint inflammation and whether they can help regenerate cartilage lost due to arthritis. These materials are less toxic, more stable, and more compatible with living tissues than current drug delivery technologies.
Environmental influences such as gravity can affect the quality of these materials and delivery systems. In microgravity, they are larger and have greater uniformity and structural integrity. This investigation could help identify the best formulations and methods for cost-effective in-space production. These nanomaterials also could be used to create novel systems targeting therapy delivery that improves patient outcomes with fewer side effects.
Stem cells grown along the Janus base nanomaterials (JBNs) made aboard the International Space Station.University of Connecticut Next-generation pharmaceutical nanostructures
The newest Industrial Crystallization Cassette (ADSEP-ICC) investigation adds capabilities to an existing protein crystallization facility. The cassette can process more sample types, including tiny gold particles used in devices that detect cancer and other diseases or in targeted drug delivery systems. Microgravity makes it possible to produce larger and more uniform gold particles, which improves their use in research and real-life applications of technologies related to human health.
Helping plants grow
Rhodium USAFA NIGHT examines how tomato plants respond to microgravity and whether a carbon dioxide replacement can reduce how much space-grown plants depend on photosynthesis. Because photosynthesis needs light, which requires spacecraft power to generate, alternatives would reduce energy use. The investigation also examines whether using supplements increases plant growth on the space station, which has been observed in preflight testing on Earth. In future plant production facilities aboard spacecraft or on celestial bodies, supplements could come from available organic materials such as waste.
Understanding how plants adapt to microgravity could help grow food during long-duration space missions or harsh environments on Earth.
Hardware for the Rhodium Plant LIFE, which was the first in a series used to study how space affects plant growth.NASA Atomic clocks in space
An ESA (European Space Agency) investigation, Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space (ACES), examines fundamental physics concepts such as Einstein’s theory of relativity using two next-generation atomic clocks operated in microgravity. Results have applications to scientific measurement studies, the search for dark matter, and fundamental physics research that relies on highly accurate atomic clocks in space. The experiment also tests a technology for synchronizing clocks worldwide using global navigation satellite networks.
An artist’s concept shows the Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space hardware mounted on the Earth-facing side of the space station’s exterior.ESA Download high-resolution photos and videos of the research mentioned in this article.
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By NASA
7 min read
Eclipses, Science, NASA Firsts: Heliophysics Big Year Highlights
One year ago today, a total solar eclipse swept across the United States. The event was a cornerstone moment in the Heliophysics Big Year, a global celebration of the Sun’s influence on Earth and the entire solar system. From October 2023 to December 2024 — a period encompassing two solar eclipses across the U.S., two new NASA heliophysics missions, and one spacecraft’s history-making solar flyby — NASA celebrated the Sun’s widespread influence on our lives.
An infographic showing key numbers summarizing the activities and events of the Heliophysics Big Year, which spanned from Oct. 14, 2023 – Dec. 24, 2024. NASA/Miles Hatfield/Kristen Perrin Annular Solar Eclipse
An annular (or “ring of fire”) solar eclipse occurred Oct. 14, 2023, and kicked off the Helio Big Year with a bang. Millions of people across North America witnessed the Moon crossing in front of the Sun, creating this brilliant celestial event. NASA’s live broadcast had more than 11 million views across different platforms.
On Oct. 14, 2023, an annular solar eclipse crossed North, Central, and South America. Visible in parts of the United States, Mexico, and many countries in South and Central America, millions of people in the Western Hemisphere were able to experience this “ring of fire” eclipse. NASA’s official broadcast and outreach teams were located in Kerrville, TX, and Albuquerque, NM, to capture the event and celebrate with the communities in the path of annularity.
Credit: NASA/Ryan Fitzgibbons Before the eclipse, NASA introduced the 2023 Eclipse Explorer, an interactive map to explore eclipse details for any location in the United States. NASA shared tips on eclipse safety, including through a video with NSYNC’s Lance Bass and even with an augmented reality filter.
Scientists also studied conditions during the annular eclipse with sounding rockets, balloons, and amateur radio.
Total Solar Eclipse
On April 8, 2024, millions of people across North America experienced a total solar eclipse that darkened parts of 15 U.S. states in the path of totality.
Ahead of the event, NASA hosted a widespread safety campaign, handed out over 2 million solar viewing glasses, and produced an interactive map to help viewers plan their viewing experience. On eclipse day, NASA also hosted a live broadcast from locations across the country, drawing over 38 million views.
Researchers studied the eclipse and its effects on Earth using a variety of techniques, including international radar networks, scientific rockets, weather balloons, and even high-altitude NASA WB-57 jets. Several NASA-funded citizen science projects also conducted experiments. These projects included more than 49,000 volunteers who contributed an astounding 53 million observations.
This infographic shares metrics from citizen science projects that occurred during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. NASA/Kristen Perrin “We have opened a window for all Americans to discover our connection to the Sun and ignited enthusiasm for engaging with groundbreaking NASA science, whether it’s through spacecraft, rockets, balloons, or planes,” said Kelly Korreck, a Heliophysics program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Sharing the excitement of NASA heliophysics with our fellow citizens has truly been amazing.”
Science Across the Solar System
NASA’s heliophysics missions gather data on the Sun and its effects across the solar system.
The Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) mission launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Nov. 9, 2023, and was installed on the International Space Station nine days later. This mission studies atmospheric gravity waves, how they form and travel through Earth’s atmosphere, and their role in space weather.
Orbital footage from the International Space Station shows NASA’s Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) as it was extracted from SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft. NASA/International Space Station On Nov. 4, 2024, the Coronal Diagnostic Experiment (CODEX) mission also launched to the space station, where it studies the solar wind, with a focus on what heats it and propels it through space.
Pictured is the CODEX instrument inside the integration and testing facility at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA/CODEX team The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission ended after 16 years studying Earth’s highest clouds, called polar mesospheric clouds.
An artist’s concept shows the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft orbiting Earth. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight/Center Conceptual Image Lab NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) also ended after three successful years studying the outermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere, called the ionosphere.
NASA’s ICON, shown in this artist’s concept, studied the frontiers of space, the dynamic zone high in our atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab Voyager has been operating for more than 47 years, continuing to study the heliosphere and interstellar space. In October 2024, the Voyager 1 probe stopped communicating. The mission team worked tirelessly to troubleshoot and ultimately reestablish communications, keeping the mission alive to continue its research.
In this artist’s conception, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has a bird’s-eye view of the solar system. The circles represent the orbits of the major outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 visited the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The spacecraft is now 13 billion miles from Earth, making it the farthest and fastest-moving human-made object ever built. In fact, Voyager 1 is now zooming through interstellar space, the region between the stars that is filled with gas, dust, and material recycled from dying stars. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is observing the material along Voyager’s path through space. NASA/STSci While the goal of the NASA heliophysics fleet is to study the Sun and its influence, these missions often make surprising discoveries that they weren’t originally designed to. From finding 5,000 comets to studying the surface of Venus, NASA highlighted and celebrated these bonus science connections during the Helio Big Year.
Solar Maximum
Similar to Earth, the Sun has its own seasons of activity, with a solar minimum and solar maximum during a cycle that lasts about 11 years. The Helio Big Year happened to coincide with the Sun’s active period, with NASA and NOAA announcing in October 2024 that the Sun had reached solar maximum, the highest period of activity. Some of the largest solar storms on current record occurred in 2024, and the largest sunspot in nearly a decade was spotted in the spring of 2024, followed by a colossal X9.0 solar flare Oct. 3, 2024.
Sunspots are cooler, darker areas on the solar surface where the Sun’s magnetic field gets especially intense, often leading to explosive solar eruptions. This sunspot group was so big that nearly 14 Earths could fit inside it! The eruptions from this region resulted in the historic May 2024 geomagnetic storms, when the aurora borealis, or northern lights, were seen as far south as the Florida Keys.
Credit: NASA/Beth Anthony Viewers across the U.S. spotted auroras in their communities as a result of these storms, proving that you can capture amazing aurora photography without advanced equipment.
The Big Finale: Parker’s Close Approach to the Sun
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe holds the title as the closest human-made object to the Sun. On Dec. 24, 2024, Parker made history by traveling just 3.8 million miles from the Sun’s surface at a whopping 430,000 miles per hour.
“Flying this close to the Sun is a historic moment in humanity’s first mission to a star,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters.
Controllers have confirmed NASA’s mission to “touch” the Sun survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024.
Credit: NASA/Joy Ng Parker Solar Probe’s close approach capped off a momentous Heliophysics Big Year that allowed NASA scientists to gather unprecedented data and invited everyone to celebrate how the Sun impacts us all. In the growing field of heliophysics, the Helio Big Year reminded us all how the Sun touches everything and how important it is to continue studying our star’s incredible influence.
A Big Year Ahead
Though the Helio Big Year is over, heliophysics is only picking up its pace in 2025. We remain in the solar maximum phase, so heightened solar activity will continue into the near future. In addition, several new missions are expected to join the heliophysics fleet by year’s end.
The PUNCH mission, a set of four Sun-watching satellites imaging solar eruptions in three dimensions, and EZIE, a trio of Earth-orbiting satellites tracing the electrical currents powering Earth’s auroras, have already launched. The LEXI instrument, an X-ray telescope studying Earth’s magnetosphere from the Moon, also launched through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.
Future missions slated for launch include TRACERS, which will investigate the unusual magnetic environment near Earth’s poles, and ESCAPADE, venturing to Mars to measure the planet’s unique magnetic environment.
The last two missions will share a ride to space. The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory will look back at home, studying ultraviolet light emitted by the outermost boundaries of our planet’s atmosphere. The IMAP mission will instead look to the outermost edges of our heliosphere, mapping the boundaries where the domain of our Sun transitions into interstellar space.
By Desiree Apodaca
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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Last Updated Apr 08, 2025 Editor Miles Hatfield Related Terms
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