Heliosphere Mission For Cosmic Rays Study In Lagrange Point L1 Announced By NASA In 2024

The heliosphere is the region of space that encompasses solar system and extends beyond Pluto where solar winds play a significant role in combating incoming cosmic rays that travel with the speed of light from outside of the solar system by making a bubble like formation that involves solar magnetic field. 

For understanding the function of solar winds in preventing or filtering the cosmic rays of high energy and also to gather information about the particles that passing through the heliosphere boundary, NASA has planned for a new mission named Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) considering the proposals of NASA officials for the last one year, according to the NASA's recent official statement.

IMAP involves launching of probe equipped with 10 scientific instruments to analyze the particles passing through heliosphere and approaching the Earth. The probe shall be placed stably at Lagrange Point 1 (L1). This may sound odd because no objects in space are stable at a particular position as bodies in Space always move.

Objects are stable due to cancelling of the gravitational pull of objects surrounding the point. L1 is 1.5 million km from Earth that is also equal to four times the distance between the Earth and Moon.

Already, in 1995, a spacecraft has been sent to L1 that collected some data about solar winds before hitting the Earth. Now, again, the new IMAP mission will be launched in 2024. the mission is not just for analysis but also for finding the generation of cosmic rays in the heliosphere.

Results of the mission would be helpful for future manned missions to deeper space as 2024 mission would reveal the effect on incoming cosmic rays on scientific equipment sent to space and also its impact on human explorers in space.