Earth is immersed in material streaming from the Sun. This stream, called the solar wind, is washing over our planet, causing breathtaking auroras, impacting satellites and astronauts in space, and even affecting ground-based infrastructure.
NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission will be the first to image the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, and solar wind together to better understand the Sun, solar wind, and Earth as a single connected system.
Launching no earlier than Feb. 28, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, PUNCH will provide scientists with new information about how potentially disruptive solar events form and evolve. This could lead to more accurate predictions about the arrival of space weather events at Earth and impact on humanity’s robotic explorers in space.
The PUNCH mission’s four suitcase-sized satellites have overlapping fields of view that combine to cover a larger swath of sky than any previous mission focused on the corona and solar wind. The satellites will spread out in low Earth orbit to construct a global view of the solar corona and its transition to the solar wind. They will also track solar storms like coronal mass ejections. Their Sun-synchronous orbit will enable them to see the Sun 24/7, with their view only occasionally blocked by Earth.
Following a 90-day commission period after launch, PUNCH is scheduled to conduct science for at least two years. The mission is launching as a rideshare with NASA’s next astrophysics observatory, SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer).
The PUNCH mission is led by Southwest Research Institute’s offices in San Antonio, Texas, and Boulder, Colorado. The mission is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), a space telescope, is situated on a work stand ahead of prelaunch operations at the Astrotech Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. SPHEREx will enter a polar orbit around Earth and create a 3D map of the entire sky, gathering information about millions of galaxies for scientists to study what happened after the big bang, the history of galaxy evolution, and the origins of water in planetary systems in our galaxy. Photo credit: BAE Systems/Benjamin Fry
NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) on Friday, Feb. 28, for the launch of the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. The new date will allow additional time to ensure the vehicle’s readiness ahead of liftoff. SPHEREx and PUNCH will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The SPHEREx mission (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) will improve our understanding of what happened in the first second after the big bang and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy. The PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) will observe the Sun’s corona as it transitions into the solar wind.
The prelaunch news briefing now will be held at 3:30 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 27, with coverage streaming live on NASA+. Media may ask questions in person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
The SPHEREx and PUNCH live launch broadcast will begin at 9:15 p.m. EST, Friday, Feb. 28, and stream live on NASA+.
Visit the NASA website for more information about SPHEREx and PUNCH.
Teams at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California offload several shipping containers protecting NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) satellites on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. PUNCH will make 3D observations of the Sun’s corona to learn how the mass and energy becomes solar wind. PUNCH, along with NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), a space telescope, will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in late February 2025. Photo credit: USSF 30th Space Wing/Alex Valdez
The four small satellites of NASA’s PUNCH mission arrived Saturday, Jan. 18, at Astrotech Space Operations located at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California for final processing before launch.
PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) is sharing a ride to space with NASA’s SPHEREx(Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) space telescope which is targeted to launch no earlier than the end of February, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg space Force Base.
As part of final tests and checkouts, teams will test the solar arrays on each small satellite before they are mated to SPHEREx in preparation for encapsulation in Falcon 9’s payload fairings.
The PUNCH mission will deploy four suitcase-sized satellites to observe the Sun and space with a combined field of view. Working together, the four PUNCH satellites will map out the region where the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, transitions to the solar wind, the constant outflow of material from the Sun.
PUNCH is led by Southwest Research Institute’s offices in San Antonio, Texas, and Boulder, Colorado. The mission is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, manages the launch service for the missions.
NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), a space telescope, arrives at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. SPHEREx will enter a polar orbit around Earth and create a 3D map of the entire sky, gathering information about millions of galaxies for scientists to study what happened after the big bang, the history of galaxy evolution, and the origins of water in planetary systems in our galaxy. SPHEREx will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in late February 2025. Photo credit: USSF 30th Space Wing/Tony Vauclin
NASA’s SPHEREx spacecraft arrived Tuesday, Jan. 14, at Astrotech Space Operations located inside Vandenberg Space Force Base in California for final processing before launching on its two-year mission.
The SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) observatory is targeted to launch at the end of February on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E.
Following launch, SPHEREx will support NASA’s goals of discovering the secrets of the universe and searching for the ingredients for life elsewhere. The telescope will scan the sky in the infrared spectrum from a position in Earth orbit and complete four all-sky maps. These will allow scientists to learn about a variety of topics, including the origins of water on planets like Earth, to the physics that governed the universe less than one second after its birth.
After final tests and checkouts, teams will mate SPHEREx and its rideshare PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) in preparation for encapsulation in the payload fairings of the Falcon 9 rocket.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting late February 2025 for the launch of NASA’s PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
PUNCH is a constellation of four small satellites heading to low Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the Sun’s corona to learn how the mass and energy there become the solar wind. The mission is led by the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, and Boulder, Colorado, and is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
PUNCH is launching as a secondary payload with the agency’s next astrophysics observatory, SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer).
Humans have been watching the Sun and stars for millennia, using the tools they had available to record naked-eye observations. Sky-watching is generally a practice for the sighted — but it can now be a multisensory experience.
Students at the Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society (ATLAS) Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder are collaborating with NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission and the Colorado Center for the Blind to develop tactile representations of two ancient petroglyphs (rock carvings).
The students then created an exhibit titled “Solar Stones.” In this video, the student creators describe the inspiration for the “Solar Stones” project and explain the design and construction process.
The “Solar Stones,” exhibit displays two petroglyphs found in Chaco Culture National Historical Park located in northwestern New Mexico. One has peculiar curlicues emanating in all directions from a central disk, and the other is a spiral. The curlicue petroglyph is believed to represent the total solar eclipse that occurred on July 11, 1097. A large swirl in the upper left of the petroglyph could represent an eruption from the Sun. This petroglyph holds importance as some astronomers hypothesize this is the first known representation of a solar storm in the Sun’s outermost layer, called the corona. The other petroglyph is around the corner from the curlicue petroglyph and marks a place to stand to observe and predict sunrises before and after the summer solstice — a culturally important time of year for ancient and contemporary Puebloan people.
These tactile representations, or sensory tablets, of two petroglyphs that astronomers say represent where to stand to observe and predict sunrises (lower left) and a total solar eclipse (lower right) found in the Chaco Canyon National Monument in New Mexico. Credit: Kai Hughes/ATLAS Institute at University of Colorado Boulder
“My team really wanted to work on this project because space is normally such a visual medium and experience, but what if you can’t see? How do you supplement that knowledge in an impactful way?” said Kai Hughes, an ATLAS student working on the project. “We thought it would be really helpful to combine history, space science, and accessibility to create tactile versions of these petroglyphs related to ancient astronomy that open doors to people with low or no vision.”
“This project is important to me because I was never a traditional learner,” said Caileigh Hudson, another ATLAS student on the project. “This is a great way to teach people about heliophysics through touch, which is different from the traditional learning we see in schools.”
What Is the PUNCH Mission?
An artist’s concept shows the four satellites of NASA’s PUNCH mission observing the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona. Credit: Southwest Research Institute
Scheduled to launch in early 2025, NASA’s PUNCH mission includes four satellites that will study the Sun’s corona and how material in the corona accelerates to become the solar wind that fills the solar system. The satellites will be in low Earth orbit and will produce continuous 3D images of the solar wind and solar storms as it travels from the Sun to Earth.
The PUNCH mission is also dedicated to outreach and student collaboration projects, such as this Solar Stones project. PUNCH’s outreach program is implementing the theme of ancient and modern Sun-watching, which shows how NASA’s exploration of the Sun is a natural extension of humanity’s age-old dedication to observing and predicting the Sun’s behavior.
“Our outreach theme enables us to make NASA heliophysics more personally and culturally relevant to a much broader diversity of people,” said Cherilynn Morrow, outreach director for the PUNCH mission. “This includes our Native American and blind collaborators who work with us to make enriching outreach products like the 3D petroglyph models that are beneficial to everyone.”
The PUNCH mission collaborates with four planetariums and science centers, plus other multicultural partners in the Four Corners region of the U.S. (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona) to enact the outreach program. More information can be found on the PUNCH mission website.
PUNCH is led by Southwest Research Institute’s office in Boulder, Colorado. The mission is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Southwest Research Institute will build the Wide Field Imagers for the spacecraft and will build and operate PUNCH. The Naval Research Laboratory in Washington will build the Narrow Field Imagers for the spacecraft and provide optical testing. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Space in the United Kingdom will provide detectors and calibration for the mission.
Video Caption: In collaboration with NASA’s PUNCH mission and the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, Creative Technology and Design, students at the ATLAS Institute at University of Colorado Boulder have developed tactile representations of what many scholars believe to be the earliest known record of solar observations. Music Credit: “Glass Eyes” by Evan William Conway [ASCAP] via Universal Production Music Video credit: Beth Anthony/NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Editor’s Note: As of October 2024, the current launch timeline for the PUNCH mission is no later than April 2025. For the latest information about PUNCH’s launch, please visit science.nasa.gov/mission/punch.
NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission will share a ride to space with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Re-ionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission. The missions will launch no earlier than April 2025 on a SpaceX Falcon 9.
“It’s great to have a definite launch date and vehicle, and we’re looking forward to working with the SPHEREx team as we `carpool’ to orbit,” said Craig DeForest, PUNCH principal investigator at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “Rideshares are a great way to save money by taking better advantage of each rocket’s capability.”
In this image, Earth is shown to scale with a coronal mass ejection that occurred on August 31, 2012. While Earth’s size is shown to scale, its distance is not (Earth is much farther from the Sun than shown here). Credits: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
The contract with SpaceX was updated to include PUNCH and was awarded July 14, 2022. The PUNCH team was able to adjust its schedule to meet the new launch date of no earlier than April 2025 and used this new schedule flexibility to mitigate some schedule constraints due to supply chain challenges.
PUNCH, which consists of four suitcase-sized satellites, will focus on the Sun’s outer atmosphere (the corona) and how it generates the solar wind. The spacecraft also will track coronal mass ejections – large eruptions of solar material that can drive large space weather events near Earth – to better understand their evolution and develop new techniques for predicting such eruptions.
The four satellites will spread out around Earth along the day-night line, which enables it to create a continuous, complete, view of the corona and inner solar system. Three of the PUNCH satellites will carry identical Wide Field Imagers, which, together, image the corona and solar wind over a 90-degree field of view (out to 45 degrees away from the Sun). In skywatching terms, 90 degrees covers the part of the sky from the horizon to the point directly overhead. The fourth PUNCH satellite carries a Narrow Field Imager coronagraph, which will study regions closest to the Sun. All four cameras will be synchronized in flight, so that the mission science team can combine their images seamlessly into a single large field of view.
PUNCH is led by Southwest Research Institute’s office in Boulder, Colorado. The mission is managed by Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, which is managed by Goddard for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Southwest Research Institute will build the Wide Field Imagers and will build and operate PUNCH. The Naval Research Laboratory in Washington will build the Narrow Field Imagers and provide optical testing. RAL Space in the United Kingdom will provide detectors and calibration for the mission.
NASA’s PUNCH mission – short for Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere – passed a mission review on July 23, 2021, moving the mission into its next phase with a new target launch readiness date of October 2023.
“With PUNCH we will finally be able to see directly the connection between the star at the center of our solar system, and the solar wind that immerses our planet and gives rise to space weather here on Earth,” said Dr. Craig DeForest, PUNCH principal investigator at Southwest Research Institute, in Boulder, Colorado. “To do that, we are building four cameras to photograph the very faint rays of sunlight that are reflected off of free electrons in interplanetary space.”
Processed data from NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory shows the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, as it streams outward and becomes the solar wind. The upcoming PUNCH mission will study this transition and how the solar wind and transients evolve through the inner solar system. Credit: Craig DeForest, SwRI
The review, Key Decision Point C, evaluated the mission’s preliminary design and program plan to achieve launch by its target launch readiness date. With the successful review, PUNCH now moves into phase C, which includes the final design of the mission and building the instruments. The four spacecraft will then go through final assembly and testing before their launch readiness date of October 2023. This phase of the mission also marks the start of the PUNCH Outreach Program. PUNCH scientists will collaborate with five planetariums and science centers, plus other cross-cultural partners, to activate an ancient and modern Sun-watching theme that will engage historically marginalized populations.
PUNCH will consist of four suitcase-sized satellites that will study the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, and how the corona accelerates to become the solar wind that fills the solar system. With images in unprecedented detail, PUNCH’s measurements will bridge a long-standing gap between remote images of the corona and solar wind and direct in situ measurements of the solar wind. PUNCH will also provide brand-new 3D information about this region, by taking advantage of the way light scatters off electrons here. PUNCH’s data will allow scientists to answer questions about how the Sun’s atmosphere becomes the solar wind that fills the solar system, as well as how structures in the solar wind are created, and how large magnetic explosions called coronal mass ejections propagate through the solar system. Such information can shed new light on how the Sun drives a vast system of space weather across the solar system, which can affect astronauts and technology on Earth and in space.
Animation (not to scale) showing the Sun’s corona and solar wind. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Lisa Poje
“Here on Earth, we can see the Sun’s corona during a total solar eclipse. By creating an artificial eclipse, PUNCH will continuously image the upper corona, solar wind, and track coronal mass ejections, with extraordinary detail and coverage,” said Dr. Nicholeen Viall, PUNCH mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The four PUNCH satellites will spread out around Earth along the day-night line to create a complete view of the corona and solar wind. Three of the PUNCH satellites will carry identical Wide Field Imagers, which, together, image the corona and solar wind out to 45 degrees away from the Sun. (In skywatching terms, 90 degrees covers the part of the sky from the horizon to the point directly overhead.) The fourth PUNCH satellite carries a Narrow Field Imager, which will study regions closest to the Sun. All four cameras will be synchronized in flight, so that the mission science team can combine their images seamlessly into a single large field of view.
“PUNCH is an exciting mission that will give heliophysicists around the world a new view of the Sun’s connection to space,” said Dr. Lika Guhathakurta, PUNCH program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. “PUNCH’s observations from new vantage points – in addition to our existing fleet of spacecraft – will greatly complement and enhance the scientific understanding of the Sun and its connection to Earth and space.”
PUNCH is led by Southwest Research Institute’s Boulder, Colorado, office. The mission is managed by Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, which is managed by Goddard for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Southwest Research Institute will build the Wide Field Imagers and will build and operate PUNCH. The Naval Research Laboratory in Washington will build the Narrow Field Imagers and provide optical testing. RAL Space in the United Kingdom will provide detectors and calibration for the mission.
By Sarah Frazier NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Following a successful System Requirements Review/Mission Definition Review on April 6, 2020, the target launch readiness timeframe for NASA’s PUNCH mission — short for Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere — has been moved from August 2022 to 2023 to accommodate the mission selection timeline.
PUNCH is led by Southwest Research Institute’s Boulder, Colorado, office. The mission is managed by Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, which is managed by Goddard for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
