• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
NASA is launching a $165,000,000 ‘PUNCH’ mission to the Sun this week in first of its kind space experiment

Home> Technology> NASA

Published 13:45 24 Feb 2025 GMT

NASA is launching a $165,000,000 ‘PUNCH’ mission to the Sun this week in first of its kind space experiment

The phenomenon behind the Northern Lights is set to be probed even deeper

Ellie Kemp

Ellie Kemp

NASA is set to launch a first-of-its-kind mission to the sun this week which will tell us more about the star at the center of our solar system.

Along with its SPHEREx space telescope - which is more powerful than the current James Webb space telescope - NASA is hoping to begin its PUNCH experiment on Friday morning (February 28).

The Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission will be the first to image the sun’s corona - also known as its outer atmosphere - as well as its solar wind together, to better understand 'the sun, solar wind, and Earth as a single connected system,' the space agency said.

An Elon Musk-owned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will be responsible for transporting the PUNCH mission’s four suitcase-sized satellites into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Back in 2019, the space agency confirmed the PUNCH mission would cost 'no more' than $165 million.

Advert

We already know solar flares and winds are responsible for the stunning Northern Lights which can, at times, be spotted in locations across the globe.

Charged solar particles colliding with atoms and molecules in our planet's atmosphere creates the dazzling light displays we love to try and catch.

Solar wind is created by the sun ejecting a continuous stream of charged particles - electrons and protons - known as coronal mass ejection (CME).

Solar winds are responsible for the Northern Lights, captured here in Oregon (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)
Solar winds are responsible for the Northern Lights, captured here in Oregon (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)

Advert

These solar winds and CMEs can tell us a lot more about our atmosphere and solar system.

What NASA's PUNCH mission might tell us

Scientists are hoping to find out new information on how 'potentially disruptive solar events' form and evolve.

NASA said 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.'

Advert

Craig DeForest, principal investigator for PUNCH at Southwest Research Institute’s Solar System Science and Exploration Division in Boulder, Colorado, said: “What we hope PUNCH will bring to humanity is the ability to really see, for the first time, where we live inside the solar wind itself."

PUNCH will help scientists learn more about solar material and the sun's outer atmosphere (NASA)
PUNCH will help scientists learn more about solar material and the sun's outer atmosphere (NASA)

He added: “This new perspective will allow scientists to discern the exact trajectory and speed of coronal mass ejections as they move through the inner solar system.

"This improves on current instruments in two ways: with three-dimensional imaging that lets us locate and track Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) which are coming directly toward us; and with a broad field of view, which lets us track those CMEs all the way from the Sun to Earth.”

Advert

You can watch the SPHEREx and PUNCH launch live via NASA's Youtube channel here.

Featured Image Credit: Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

Topics: Science, Space, NASA, Technology, US News

Ellie Kemp
Ellie Kemp

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

13 hours ago
16 hours ago
a day ago
  • 13 hours ago

    Staggering distorted ‘sound’ from the early universe suggests that we are living in a massive void

    It's believed that there may be less galaxies near us than once thought

    Technology
  • 16 hours ago

    Neuralink's first female patient shares bold plans after Musk chip lets her write for first time in 20 years

    Neuralink has now implanted nine patients with its BCI chip

    Technology
  • 16 hours ago

    Expert labeled the 'godfather of AI' lists all jobs that will cease to exist

    The AI train is gathering momentum, but could it soon push people out of a job?

    Technology
  • a day ago

    ‘Earthrise’ explained as stunning footage from Japanese space orbiter resurfaces

    It's easy to see why the awe-inspiring footage has gone viral

    Technology
  • NASA reveals truth behind asteroid hurtling past Earth at 46,908 mph next week
  • How NASA will make closest ever approach to the sun in historic 3,800,000 mile mission
  • Why NASA is offering $3,000,000 to anyone who can solve how to do this one thing in space
  • First look at stranded NASA astronauts as they finally return to Earth after nine months stuck in space