NASA will launch a spacecraft towards the Sun in 2024 to collect and analyze solar wind particles that pass through the outer boundary of the solar system.
The space agency said Saturday the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe mission will also guide researchers in understanding further how cosmic rays are generated in the heliosphere.
The IMAP satellite will carry 10 science instruments from international and local research entities.
Dennis Andrucyk, deputy associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate of NASA, stated that IMAP will provide more knowledge on how the heliosphere or “cosmic filter†works.
“The implications of this research could reach well beyond the consideration of Earthly impacts as we look to send humans into deep space,†he said.
IMAP will be the fifth mission under NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Probes program.