IMAP

The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, or IMAP, explores and maps the very boundaries of our heliosphere — a huge bubble created by the Sun’s wind that encapsulates our entire solar system — and studies how the heliosphere interacts with the local galactic neighborhood beyond.
As a modern-day celestial cartographer, IMAP also explores and charts the vast range of particles in interplanetary space, helping to investigate two of the most important overarching issues in heliophysics — the energization of charged particles from the Sun, and the interaction of the solar wind at its boundary with interstellar space. Additionally, IMAP supports real-time observations of the solar wind and energetic particles, which can produce hazardous conditions in the space environment near Earth.

Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Imperial College London, Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Science, University of Bern Switzerland, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), University of New Hampshire, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, University of Alabama, Huntsville, University of Bonn, University of California, Los Angeles, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Website, NOAA, University of Arizona, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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