Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe Mission Overview

The IMAP mission resolves two major questions in Heliophysics today: The acceleration of energetic particles and the interaction of the solar wind with the interstellar medium. IMAP consists of a spinning observatory operating in a Lissajous orbit about the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1 (L1) with a complement of 10 different instruments. Measurements include energetic neutral atom (ENA) imaging of interstellar interactions with the heliosphere, solar wind composition, magnetic fields, heliospheric backscatter glow for in flowing interstellar hydrogen, and interstellar dust. In addition to primary science, IMAP contributes to space weather with continuous near-real-time transmission of a subset of the science data. The mission launches in February 2025 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a near escape trajectory with backup launch periods available every month. IMAP will cruise for 3.6 months after which it will insert into a 9.5×3.9 deg orbit about L1. During cruise, IMAP will perform any required correction maneuvers and commission the observatory. The primary two-year mission, begins once the operational orbit is achieved. During the operational mission, the observatory makes continuous measurements throughout each day. To accommodate the daily motion of the Earth-Sun line relative to the spinning observatory, IMAP autonomously repoints daily to maintain its spin-axis pointed into the nominal solar wind aberration. IMAP leverages a distributed architecture for mission operations. The Mission Operations Center (MOC) is responsible for overall mission operations and the spacecraft bus. The Science Operations Center (SOC) is responsible for instrument commanding as well as generation of science data products. IMAP plans to have at least weekly contacts (nominally planned for every three days) with DSN to downlink the spacecraft housekeeping and science data, provide any necessary commanding, and upload navigation updates. A subset of measurements are broadcast in near real-time continuously to provide space weather. The mission is designed to operate every day without regular commanding of the spacecraft and instruments. The need for maneuvers to maintain orbit and spin-rate will be infrequent with maneuver opportunities every three months near the Sun-Earth line crossings. IMAP is a Principal Investigator (PI) led mission from Princeton University with Deputy PIs from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of New Hampshire with each institution also providing a science instrument. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU / APL) is responsible for the spacecraft, mission integration, mission operations, project science, and an ENA instrument. Southwest Research Institute is responsible for managing instrument payload development and providing a solar wind instrument and instrument electronics for four instruments. The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics is responsible for instrument and science operations as well as providing the interstellar dust instrument. Los Alamos National Laboratory provides an ENA and a solar wind electron instrument. The Space Research Center Polish Academy of Science provides the Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) imager as a contributed instrument.