API VERSION: 1.2 API SOURCE: NASA/JPL Horizons API ****************************************************************************** Revised: Jan 16, 2025 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 is expected to be launched in late 2025. From a location 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: This pre-launch planning trajectory was provided 2025-Jan-03 by JHU-APL. Trajectory name Start Stop ---------------------------- ----------- ----------- IMAP_refTraj_20250923_1A 2025-Sep-23 2028-Jun-03 ******************************************************************************* No ephemeris for target "IMAP (spacecraft)" prior to A.D. 2025-SEP-23 11:32:14.9870 UT