API VERSION: 1.2 API SOURCE: NASA/JPL Horizons API ****************************************************************************** Revised: Sep 30, 2026 IMAP Spacecraft / (Earth) -43 https://imap.princeton.edu/ BACKGROUND: The "Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe" (IMAP) will study the energization of charged particles and interaction of the solar wind with that of other stars and material in our galaxy. IMAP is the fifth mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes (STP) Program. It was launched Sep. 24, 2025 @ 11:30 UTC from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center, USA, on a Falcon 9 booster. From a halo-orbit at the Earth-Sun L1 Lagrange Point, ~1.6 million km closer to the Sun than Earth and free from planetary magnetic influences, IMAP will spin once every 15 seconds while using 10 instruments to scan the heliosphere. SCIENCE GOALS * What elements make up the interstellar gas and dust (indication of origin) * How does the solar wind and interstellar medium interact through the boundaries of our heliosphere? * What causes some solar particles to get accelerated to nearly the speed of light, making them dangerous to satellites and astronauts, and how can it be predicted when these particles will occur? SPACECRAFT PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Dry mass : ~800 kg Launch mass : ~900 kg Dimensions : cylindrical, 3-m diameter, 1.5-m height. 2.5-m boom Solar arrays : 500 Watts, sun-facing Spin : 4 rpm Communications : X-band, 375-500 kilobits/s down, 2 kbps up. Propulsion : 12 thrusters, three hydrazine tanks Launch vehicle : Space-X Falcon-9 from Kennedy Space Center SPACECRAFT TRAJECTORY: Post-launch merged trajectory. Tracking data through September 28, 2026. Predicted trajectory thereafter. Trajectory name Start Stop ----------------------------------------- ----------------- ----------------- Merged segments 2025-Sep-24 13:02 2026-Jul-20 00:01 imap_pred_od044_20260928_20261109_v01 2026-Jul-20 00:01 2026-Nov-09 00:00 ******************************************************************************* Input ELEV_CUT must be between -90.0 <= e <= 90.0 degrees -- try again