Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX)
The IBEX mission is the first spacecraft dedicated to observations of neutral atoms to study the outer boundaries of the heliosphere and the very local interstellar medium. The spacecraft is equipped with two instruments enabling observations of neutral atoms in a wide range of energy from 10 eV to 6 keV. Since 2008, the mission has provided a global image of the heliosphere with energetic neutral atoms.
I have been a member of the IBEX science team since 2022.
Visit the IBEX mission website.
Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP)
The IMAP mission is the NASA mission launching in 2025, which will provide observations of the global heliosphere and the in situ measurements of the solar wind plasma.
I’m a member of the IMAP science team.
Visit the IMAP mission website.
New Horizons
NASA launched the New Horizons mission in 2006 with the primary goal of making a flyby over the Pluto system in 2015. The mission continues to observe plasma and energetic particles using the SWAP and PEPSSI instruments. The spacecraft provides the first observations of energetic pickup ions in the distant heliosphere.
The spacecraft is currently located more than 60 au from the Sun. The spacecraft will be the first to measure the pickup ions energized at the heliospheric termination shock.
I’m a New Horizons Affiliate Science Team Member.