Exploration of Space Weather Phenomena and the Heliosphere: Solar Expeditions Schedule for 2025
In the year 2025, the world of heliophysics is set to witness a series of groundbreaking missions aimed at unravelling the mysteries of the sun and its influence on the solar system. This exciting period is particularly significant due to the sun being in the maximum phase of its 11-year solar cycle, offering a wealth of new data through radiation flares and plasma ejections.
These missions, a collaborative effort among international researchers, aim to deepen our understanding of the sun and its role in the solar system. Meghan Bartels, a senior news reporter at Scientific American, discusses the world of heliophysics and the upcoming missions.
One of the most anticipated missions is the 10-Minute SNIFS (Solar Near Ultraviolet Integral Field Spectrograph), launched as a NASA sounding rocket mission in July 2025. SNIFS provides high-cadence spectral imaging of the solar chromosphere, using novel ultraviolet lines to study plasma flows and heating processes in the Sun’s outer atmosphere. It demonstrates integral field spectrograph (IFS) technology that captures a 2D spectral field in real time, potentially shaping future solar observatories.
Another innovative project involves NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), scheduled to launch in late 2025. IMAP will study the outer boundary of the heliosphere—the magnetic bubble inflated by the solar wind surrounding our solar system. It carries new instruments such as the Compact Dual Ion Experiment (CoDICE) to measure interstellar and solar wind ions, providing insights into heliospheric shielding from interstellar radiation.
The Parker Solar Probe, which has been operational since 2018, will continue its mission in 2025 after completing 24 perihelion passes. This spacecraft, named after solar physicist Eugene Parker, is designed to study the Sun’s corona and solar wind acceleration closer than any spacecraft before. It is poised to observe solar activity as the Sun moves into the declining phase of its 11-year cycle, with funding planned through 2030 to enable ongoing science.
TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) are also targeted for launch in July 2025. These satellites will investigate magnetic reconnection, a key process driving energy transfer from the solar wind into Earth’s magnetosphere. They will work alongside other missions like MMS and PUNCH to better understand space weather and its effects on Earth’s atmosphere and technology.
Understanding the magnetism and dynamics of the sun's poles is essential for deciphering the mechanisms driving the solar activity cycle. The upcoming years, including 2025, present an exciting opportunity for researchers to deepen their understanding of solar phenomena, including a mission designed to explore the poles of the sun, a region never directly observed before.
By unraveling the mysteries of the sun, scientists aim to enhance our ability to predict and mitigate the effects of space weather events, safeguarding both astronauts in space and critical infrastructure on Earth. The confluence of factors in 2025 offers a unique chance for groundbreaking discoveries in heliophysics.
The National Academy of Sciences has outlined key priorities for heliophysics in the coming decade, endorsing ambitious spacecraft missions and ground-based projects. However, ground-based projects for the 2025 timeframe were not explicitly mentioned in the given results. The Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) will venture to Mars to study the interplay between solar wind and the Martian atmosphere, but this mission is not scheduled for 2025.
These upcoming missions encompass space-based instruments on satellites and sounding rockets and seek to advance understanding of solar dynamics, magnetic interactions, and heliospheric boundaries through novel technologies and international collaboration. The world of heliophysics is on the brink of remarkable discoveries, and 2025 promises to be an exciting year in this field of study.
[1] SNIFS Mission Overview [2] IMAP Mission Overview [3] Parker Solar Probe Mission Overview [4] TRACERS Mission Overview [5] MMS Mission Overview [6] PUNCH Mission Overview
- Meghan Bartels, a senior news reporter at Scientific American, is discussing the world of heliophysics and the upcoming missions, one of which is the 10-Minute SNIFS (Solar Near Ultraviolet Integral Field Spectrograph) launched as a NASA sounding rocket mission in July 2025.
- Another anticipated mission is NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), scheduled to launch in late 2025, which will study the outer boundary of the heliosphere.
- The Parker Solar Probe, operational since 2018, will continue its mission in 2025 after completing 24 perihelion passes, studying the Sun’s corona and solar wind acceleration closer than any spacecraft before.
- TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) are targeted for launch in July 2025, investigating magnetic reconnection, a key process driving energy transfer from the solar wind into Earth’s magnetosphere.
[1] SNIFS Mission Details [2] IMAP Mission Details [3] Parker Solar Probe Mission Details [4] TRACERS Mission Details [5] MMS Mission Details [6] PUNCH Mission Details
Additional missions in this field of study include MMS (Market Multi-Mission Spacecraft) and PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere), which will better understand space weather and its effects on Earth’s atmosphere and technology.
These upcoming missions encompass space-based instruments on satellites and sounding rockets and seek to advance understanding of solar dynamics, magnetic interactions, and heliospheric boundaries through novel technologies and international collaboration.
The world of heliophysics is on the brink of remarkable discoveries, and 2025 promises to be an exciting year in this field of study. These missions aim to deepen our understanding of the sun and its role in the solar system, with potential applications in areas such as medical-conditions, health-and-wellness, environment-science, and space-and-astronomy, and may lead to an enhanced ability to predict and mitigate the effects of space weather events on Earth and spacecraft.
