Imperial magnetometer on board NASA’s IMAP mission

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the early morning of Wednesday, September 24, carrying the agency’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP). The IMAP contains 10 scientific instruments, including an Imperial-built magnetometer, which is an instrument used to measure magnetic fields in space. 

“The incredibly sensitive instruments developed by our physicists and engineers will enhance our ability to predict solar wind and other space weather phenomena,” Professor Mary Ryan, Imperial’s Vice Provost of Research and Enterprise, told Imperial’s News team. “This will help protect critical infrastructure such as satellites and telecommunications networks, which are essential to our increasingly connected world.” 

NASA describes their new probe as a “Modern-day Celestial Cartographer.” In practice, the IMAP will focus on mapping the heliosphere, which is “a giant protective bubble created by the Sun that encapsulates our solar system.” The probe acts as a weather station in space, and can help scientists understand how the heliosphere boundary interacts with the wider galaxy. 

The IMAP can detect high-energy particles, remnants of exploded stars, and magnetic fields in interplanetary space. 

Professor Tim Horbury led Imperial’s scientific contribution to the project, the MAG instrument, a highly sensitive magnetometer, with £4.2 million in funding from the UK space agency. 

“We were delighted to contribute to the IMAP mission, and with UK space agency support, we designed, built, and delivered our instrument in just three years, a testament to expertise of our outstanding engineering team at Imperial,” Horbury told Imperial’s News team. “Our magnetic field instrument will help us understand how particles are accelerated at shock waves and travel through the solar system.” 

After three to four months in transit, IMAP will reach its final orbit around the Sun, at about 1 million miles from Earth. However, it will be able to send data back from space within 5 minutes.  

“I’m especially excited that our data will be made public within minutes of being measured over a million miles away, support real-time space weather forecasts,” said Horbury. “It’s a great example of how scientific measurements can positively impact society.” 

Space weather can disrupt satellites and GPS, and cause power cuts on Earth. The probe’s measurements will ultimately help protect critical services, such as banking transactions and mobile phone networks. Additionally, IMAP’s findings will help plan future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. 

Imperial’s team worked with colleagues at Princeton University, lead by Professor David McComas, and Professor Silvia Dalla at University of Lancashire. This project expands upon the success of the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter, which launched in early 2020 carrying an Imperial-built magnetometer. 

On a wider scale, NASA’s project includes contributions from 27 institutions across six countries. 

“The use of Imperial’s magnetometers for this historic IMAP mission demonstrates our world-class expertise and reputation in space science,” said Ryan. “We are working to foster innovation that builds a more connected, secure, and resilient future.