NASA Heliophysics Science Division Instrument Systems Engineer Patrick Haas, left, demonstrates heliophysics activities during a teacher professional development event hosted by the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT) at the Dallas Arboretum, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Dallas, Texas. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA Heliophysics Science Division Instrument Systems Engineer Patrick Haas, right, demonstrates heliophysics activities during a teacher professional development event hosted by the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT) at the Dallas Arboretum, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Dallas, Texas. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA Heliophysics Division Director Dr. Joseph Westlake delivers remarks during a teacher professional development event hosted by the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT) at the Dallas Arboretum, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Dallas, Texas. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA Heliophysics Division Director Dr. Joseph Westlake delivers remarks during a teacher professional development event hosted by the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT) at the Dallas Arboretum, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Dallas, Texas. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA Heliophysics Division Director Dr. Joseph Westlake delivers remarks during a teacher professional development event hosted by the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT) at the Dallas Arboretum, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Dallas, Texas. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine listens to Dr. Antti Pulkkinen of Goddard Space Flight Center’s Heliophysics Science Division talk about various space agency programs designed to better understand the sun.

NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977, are traveling through interstellar space at around 35,000 mph (56,000 kph). This artist's concept depicts one of the probes speeding away. The Voyager spacecraft were built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which continues to operate both. JPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California. The Voyager missions are a part of the NASA Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about the Voyager spacecraft, visit https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26353

Richard Fisher, Heliophysics Division Director at NASA Headquarters, speaks during a briefing to discuss the upcoming launch of NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory, or SDO, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The mission is to study the Sun and its dynamic behavior. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)

Peg Luce, deputy director of the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, left, asks of question of Jane Rigby, senior project scientist for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, Danny Milisavljevic, associate professor of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue University, and Asal Naseri, program executive in the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, as they speak to attendees at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during a panel discussion about the James Webb Space Telescope ahead of the total solar eclipse, Monday, April 8, 2024, in Indianapolis, Ind. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Danny Milisavljevic, associate professor of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue University, speaks to attendees at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during a panel discussion along with Peg Luce, deputy director of the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Jane Rigby, senior project scientist for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, and Asal Naseri, program executive in the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, about the James Webb Space Telescope ahead of the total solar eclipse, Monday, April 8, 2024, in Indianapolis, Ind. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Peg Luce, deputy director of the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, is introduced during opening ceremonies at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ahead of the total solar eclipse, Monday, April 8, 2024, in Indianapolis, Ind. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA director of Heliophysics division, Science Mission Directorate, Nicola Fox, speaks at a presentation titled, “The Challenge of Exploring Our Sun - the 60-Year Odyssey to Parker Solar Probe,” during the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington. Photo credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Bradley Williams, program executive in the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, speaks to visitors at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Sunday, April 7, 2024, in Indianapolis, Ind. On Monday, April 8, a total solar eclipse will sweep across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada, while a partial solar eclipse will be visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA director of Heliophysics division, Science Mission Directorate, Nicola Fox, speaks at a presentation titled, “The Challenge of Exploring Our Sun - the 60-Year Odyssey to Parker Solar Probe,” during the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington. Photo credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Nicola Fox, director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division, right, hears from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center physicist Todd Schneider during her visit to the center Sept. 26. Fox toured multiple facilities at Marshall -- including the Space Environmental Effects facility -- to see firsthand how Marshall scientists and engineers are advancing exploration and discovery.

NASA Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, Thomas Zurbuchen, introduces Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics division for the Science Mission Directorate, to give a presentation titled, “The Challenge of Exploring Our Sun - the 60-Year Odyssey to Parker Solar Probe,” during the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington. Photo credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

NASA director of Heliophysics division, Science Mission Directorate, Nicola Fox, speaks at a presentation titled, “The Challenge of Exploring Our Sun - the 60-Year Odyssey to Parker Solar Probe,” during the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington. Photo credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s Science and Technology Office held its 11th annual Science and Technology Jamboree Dec. 8 at Marshall Activities Building 4316. A poster session with around 60 poster presentations highlighted current science and technology topics and the innovative projects underway across the center. Here, Debra Needham, right, talks with coworker Sabrina Savage about one of the presentations. Both Needham and Savage are scientists in the Heliophysics & Planetary Science Branch of the Science Research and Projects Division.

NASA director of Heliophysics division, Science Mission Directorate, Nicola Fox, speaks at a presentation titled, “The Challenge of Exploring Our Sun - the 60-Year Odyssey to Parker Solar Probe,” during the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington. Photo credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Bradley Williams, program executive in the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, speaks to visitors at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Sunday, April 7, 2024, in Indianapolis, Ind. On Monday, April 8, a total solar eclipse will sweep across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada, while a partial solar eclipse will be visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, Thomas Zurbuchen, introduces Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics division for the Science Mission Directorate, to give a presentation titled, “The Challenge of Exploring Our Sun - the 60-Year Odyssey to Parker Solar Probe,” during the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington. Photo credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

NASA director of Heliophysics division, Science Mission Directorate, Nicola Fox, shows a photo of Eugene Parker, the physicist who first predicted there was solar wind, during a presentation titled, “The Challenge of Exploring Our Sun - the 60-Year Odyssey to Parker Solar Probe,” during the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington. Photo credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Richard Fisher, Heliophysics Division Director at NASA Headquarters, left, speaks during a briefing to discuss the upcoming launch of NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory, or SDO, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010, as Madhulika Guhathakurta, SDO Program Scientist looks on at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The mission is to study the Sun and its dynamic behavior. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)

NASA, NOAA, and mission leaders participate in a science briefing on NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) mission and its two rideshares – NASA’s exosphere-studying Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) observatory – at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. From left are: Sarah Frazier, NASA Communications; Joe Westlake, director, Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington; David McComas, IMAP principal investigator, Princeton University; Lara Waldrop, Carruthers Geocorona Observatory principal investigator, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Jamie Favors, director, Space Weather Program, Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters; Clinton Wallace, director, NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center; James Spann, senior scientist, NOAA Office of Space Weather Observations. NASA’s IMAP will use 10 science instruments to study and map the heliosphere, a vast magnetic bubble surrounding the Sun protecting our solar system from radiation incoming from interstellar space. The missions will orbit the Sun near Lagrange point 1, about one million miles from Earth. Launch is targeted for 7:32 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, Sept. 23, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy.

Carolin Frueh, associate professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, left, Heather Futrell, program executive in the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Briony Horgan, associate professor of Planetary Science at Purdue University, and Nicole Rayl, associate director for Flight Programs in the Heliophysics Divison of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, speak to attendees at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during a panel discussion about the Parker Solar Probe and space weather ahead of the total solar eclipse, Monday, April 8, 2024, in Indianapolis, Ind. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Asal Naseri, program executive in the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, speaks to attendees at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during a panel discussion about the James Webb Space Telescope ahead of the total solar eclipse, Monday, April 8, 2024, in Indianapolis, Ind. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Nicola Fox, Heliophysics division director in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, speaks to news media during a prelaunch mission briefing for NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), on Oct. 8, 2019, in the News Center auditorium at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ICON is targeted to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Oct. 9, 2019, aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket carried aloft by the company’s Stargazer L-1011 aircraft. The explorer will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above.

NASA Heliophysics Science Division Instrument Systems Engineer Patrick Haas speaks to guests about the upcoming total solar eclipse at the Dallas Arboretum, Sunday, April 7, 2024, in Dallas, Texas. On Monday, April 8, a total solar eclipse will sweep across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada, while a partial solar eclipse will be visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)

Joe Westlake, director, Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters, participates in a science briefing on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, to discuss the upcoming launch of NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) observatory and PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) satellites at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. SPHEREx will use its telescope to provide an all-sky spectral survey, creating a 3D map of the entire sky to help scientists investigate the origins of our universe. PUNCH will study origins of the Sun’s outflow of material, or the solar wind, capturing continuous 3D images of the Sun’s corona and the solar wind’s journey into the solar system.

Nicky Fox, director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division, discusses the Space Environment Testbeds payload during a NASA prelaunch technology TV broadcast for the Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 23, 2019. The payload’s four experiments will reveal the ways local space weather affects spacecraft hardware. It is one of four NASA payloads scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A beginning at 11:30 p.m. EDT on June 24, 2019. STP-2 is managed by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.

Nicky Fox, director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division, discusses the Space Environment Testbeds payload during a NASA prelaunch technology TV broadcast for the Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 23, 2019. The payload’s four experiments will reveal the ways local space weather affects spacecraft hardware. It is one of four NASA payloads scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A beginning at 11:30 p.m. EDT on June 24, 2019. STP-2 is managed by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.

Swedish Delegation Visits GSFC – May 3, 2017 - Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences listen to Benjamin Reed, Deputy Division Director of the SatelliteServicing Projects Division about activities happening in Goddard’s Robotic Operations Center in Building 29. Photo Credit: NASA/Goddard/Rebecca Roth Read more: <a href="https://go.nasa.gov/2p1rP0h" rel="nofollow">go.nasa.gov/2p1rP0h</a> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

Swedish Delegation Visits GSFC – May 3, 2017 - Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences listen to Benjamin Reed, Deputy Division Director of the SatelliteServicing Projects Division about activities happening in Goddard’s Robotic Operations Center in Building 29. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Bill Hrybyk Read more: <a href="https://go.nasa.gov/2p1rP0h" rel="nofollow">go.nasa.gov/2p1rP0h</a> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

Swedish Delegation Visits GSFC – May 3, 2017 - Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences listen to Benjamin Reed, Deputy Division Director of the SatelliteServicing Projects Division about activities happening in Goddard’s Robotic Operations Center in Building 29. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Bill Hrybyk Read more: <a href="https://go.nasa.gov/2p1rP0h" rel="nofollow">go.nasa.gov/2p1rP0h</a> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

In a panel discussion in the Kennedy Space Center’s Operations Support Building II, social media followers were briefed by NASA scientists on asteroids, how they relate to the origins of our solar system and the search for life beyond Earth. The discussion took place before launch of the agency’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Panelists for this conversation are, from the left, Ellen Stofan, NASA chief scientist; Michelle Thaller, deputy director of science communications for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate; Felicia Chou, NASA Communications; Alex Young, associate director for science in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; and Lindley Johnson, director of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

Inside Hangar AE’s Mission Director’s Center at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), Nicola Fox, left, Heliophysics division director in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, monitors the launch of the agency’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) satellite. The Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket carrying ICON was released from the company’s L-1011 Stargazer aircraft at 9:59 p.m. EDT on Oct. 10, 2019, over the Atlantic Ocean about 50 miles from Daytona Beach, Florida, following takeoff from CCAFS. ICON will spend two years studying the Earth’s ionosphere – the dynamic zone in our atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather from above. The launch was managed by the agency’s Launch Services Program.

Launch and mission managers for NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) participate in a prelaunch mission briefing on Oct. 8, 2019, in the News Center auditorium at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left to right are Karen Fox, NASA Communications; Nicola Fox, Heliophysics division director in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate; Thomas Immel, ICON principal investigator at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California Berkeley; and Steve Krein, vice president of civil and commercial space for Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. ICON is targeted to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Oct. 9, 2019, aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket carried aloft by the company’s Stargazer L-1011 aircraft. The explorer will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above.

In a panel discussion in the Kennedy Space Center’s Operations Support Building II, social media followers were briefed by NASA scientists on asteroids, how they relate to the origins of our solar system and the search for life beyond Earth. The discussion took place before launch of the agency’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Panelists in view are, from the left, Felicia Chou, NASA Communications; Alex Young, associate director for science in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; and Lindley Johnson, director of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Also participating in the panel discussion are Ellen Stofan, NASA chief scientist and Michelle Thaller, deputy director of science communications for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

In a panel discussion in the Kennedy Space Center’s Operations Support Building II, social media followers were briefed by NASA scientists on asteroids, how they relate to the origins of our solar system and the search for life beyond Earth. The discussion took place before launch of the agency’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Panelists for this conversation are, from the left, Ellen Stofan, NASA chief scientist; Michelle Thaller, deputy director of science communications for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate; Felicia Chou, NASA Communications; Alex Young, associate director for science in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; and Lindley Johnson, director of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

Jane Rigby, senior project scientist for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, center, is seen alongside Peg Luce, deputy director of the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, left, and Danny Milisavljevic, associate professor of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue University, as she speaks to attendees at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during a panel discussion about the James Webb Space Telescope ahead of the total solar eclipse, Monday, April 8, 2024, in Indianapolis, Ind. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

From left, Nicky Fox, director, NASA Heliophysics Division; and Guenther Hasinger, director of science, European Space Agency, participate in a Solar Orbiter science press conference at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 7, 2020. Solar Orbiter is an international cooperative mission between ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar wind. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. The spacecraft was developed by Airbus Defence and Space. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Solar Orbiter will launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Feb. 9, 2020, from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Barbara Giles, director of NASA's Science Mission Directorate Heliophysics Division, talks to agency social media followers during the second day of NASA Social activities revolving around NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes, or RBSP, mission. The probes are set to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance, or ULA, Atlas V rocket from nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. About 40 followers were selected to participate in RBSP's prelaunch and launch activities. The RBSP mission will help us understand the sun’s influence on Earth and near-Earth space by studying the Earth’s radiation belts on various scales of space and time. RBSP will begin its mission of exploration of Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts and the extremes of space weather. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rbsp. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin

Launch and mission managers for NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) participate in a prelaunch mission briefing on Oct. 8, 2019, in the News Center auditorium at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left to right are Karen Fox, NASA Communications; Nicola Fox, Heliophysics division director in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate; Thomas Immel, ICON principal investigator at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California Berkeley; and Steve Krein, vice president of civil and commercial space for Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. ICON is targeted to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Oct. 9, 2019, aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket carried aloft by the company’s Stargazer L-1011 aircraft. The explorer will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above.

Doug Boles, Indianapolis Motor Speedway President, left, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, Janet Holcomb, Indiana’s First Lady, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, Peg Luce, deputy director of the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, and Mung Chiang, President of Purdue University are seen during opening ceremonies at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ahead of the total solar eclipse, Monday, April 8, 2024, in Indianapolis, Ind. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Jamie Favors, director, Space Weather Program, Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington, participates in a science briefing on NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) mission and its two rideshares – NASA’s exosphere-studying Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) observatory – at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. NASA’s IMAP will use 10 science instruments to study and map the heliosphere, a vast magnetic bubble surrounding the Sun protecting our solar system from radiation incoming from interstellar space. The three missions will orbit the Sun near Lagrange point 1, about one million miles from Earth. Launch is targeted for 7:32 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, Sept. 23, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy.

Joe Westlake, director, Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington, participates in a science briefing on NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) mission and its two rideshares – NASA’s exosphere-studying Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) observatory – at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. NASA’s IMAP will use 10 science instruments to study and map the heliosphere, a vast magnetic bubble surrounding the Sun protecting our solar system from radiation incoming from interstellar space. The three missions will orbit the Sun near Lagrange point 1, about one million miles from Earth. Launch is targeted for 7:32 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, Sept. 23, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy.

Technicians encapsulate the black twin satellites of NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission within a payload fairing atop a shiny metallic stack of several other rideshare payloads at the Astrotech Space Operations facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The TRACERS mission is a pair of twin satellites that will study how Earth’s magnetic shield — the magnetosphere — protects our planet from the supersonic stream of material from the Sun called solar wind.

Karen Fox, far left, with Goddard Space Flight Center, moderates a Solar Orbiter science press conference at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 7, 2020. Participants from left are Daniel Mueller, Solar Orbiter Project scientist, European Space Agency; Nicky Fox, director, NASA Heliophysics Division; Guenther Hasinger, director of science, European Space Agency; and Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator, NASA Science Mission Directorate. Solar Orbiter is an international cooperative mission between ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar wind. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. The spacecraft was developed by Airbus Defence and Space. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Solar Orbiter will launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Feb. 9, 2020, from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Karen Fox, far left, with Goddard Space Flight Center, moderates a Solar Orbiter science press conference at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 7, 2020. Participants from left are Daniel Mueller, Solar Orbiter Project scientist, European Space Agency; Nicky Fox, director, NASA Heliophysics Division; Guenther Hasinger, director of science, European Space Agency; and Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator, NASA Science Mission Directorate. Solar Orbiter is an international cooperative mission between ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar wind. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. The spacecraft was developed by Airbus Defence and Space. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Solar Orbiter will launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Feb. 9, 2020, from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

"I grew up in China. In China, everybody talks about what they want to be [when they grow up]. Many want to grow up to be a scientist or engineer. So I aspired to be a scientist from an early age. … For the girls or women in science — or in any profession or job — opportunities are more abundant than they were previously. Sometimes you need to take bold steps. Just a little push, and then you will get there. I initially started as a foreign national, so not a lot of opportunities existed for a foreign national, and some of them [required a] green card or citizenship. I think it's hard, but still, there is a path forward. I think it's important to work hard and be optimistic, and you will find something." Space Physics and Space Weather Scientist, Heliophysics Science Division, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Dr. Yihua Zheng, poses for a portrait, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024 at NASA’s GSFC in Greenbelt, Maryland. Photo Credit: (NASA/Thalia Patrinos)

Patricia Moore, communications strategist for the Moon to Mars Program Office in NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, Bradley Williams, program executive in the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Matthew Roper, Crew Health and Medical Team Lead in NASA's Flight Operations Directorate, Arvind Raman, dean of the College of Engineering at Purdue University, and Logan Kennedy, surface lead for Human Landing System Programs in NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, are seen as they speaks to attendees at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during a panel discussion about following your dreams to a career in STEM ahead of the total solar eclipse, Monday, April 8, 2024, in Indianapolis, Ind. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

This artist's concept puts solar system distances in perspective. The scale bar is in astronomical units, with each set distance beyond 1 AU representing 10 times the previous distance. One AU is the distance from the sun to the Earth, which is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. Neptune, the most distant planet from the sun, is about 30 AU. Informally, the term &quot;solar system&quot; is often used to mean the space out to the last planet. Scientific consensus, however, says the solar system goes out to the Oort Cloud, the source of the comets that swing by our sun on long time scales. Beyond the outer edge of the Oort Cloud, the gravity of other stars begins to dominate that of the sun. The inner edge of the main part of the Oort Cloud could be as close as 1,000 AU from our sun. The outer edge is estimated to be around 100,000 AU. NASA's Voyager 1, humankind's most distant spacecraft, is around 125 AU. Scientists believe it entered interstellar space, or the space between stars, on Aug. 25, 2012. Much of interstellar space is actually inside our solar system. It will take about 300 years for Voyager 1 to reach the inner edge of the Oort Cloud and possibly about 30,000 years to fly beyond it. Alpha Centauri is currently the closest star to our solar system. But, in 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will be closer to the star AC +79 3888 than to our own sun. AC +79 3888 is actually traveling faster toward Voyager 1 than the spacecraft is traveling toward it. The Voyager spacecraft were built and continue to be operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. The Voyager missions are a part of NASA's Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. For more information about Voyager, visit: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/voyager" rel="nofollow">www.nasa.gov/voyager</a> and <a href="http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov" rel="nofollow">voyager.jpl.nasa.gov</a> . Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

Piers Sellers is currently Deputy Director of the Sciences and Exploration Directorate and Acting Director of the Earth Sciences Division at NASA/GSFC. He was born and educated in the United Kingdom and moved to the U.S. in 1982 to carry out climate research at NASA/GSFC. From 1982 to 1996, he worked on global climate problems, particularly those involving interactions between the biosphere and the atmosphere, and was involved in constructing computer models of the global climate system, satellite data interpretation and conducting large-scale field experiments in the USA, Canada, Africa, and Brazil. He served as project scientist for the first large Earth Observing System platform, Terra, launched in 1998. He joined the NASA astronaut corps in 1996 and flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2002, 2006, and 2010, carrying out six spacewalks and working on ISS assembly tasks. He returned to Goddard Space Flight Center in June, 2011. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Rebecca Roth <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

At 1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. PDT) on Friday, Aug. 28, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will host a live TV program about agency research into how and why the massive Greenland ice sheet is changing. The event features scientists actively conducting field work in Greenland, along with extensive video footage of their work performed over this summer. Panelists include: Tom Wagner (cryosphere program scientist with NASA's Earth Science Division), Laurence Smith (chair of the University of California, Los Angeles Department of Geography), Mike Bevis (professor of geodynamics at Ohio State University in Columbus), Sophie Nowicki (physical scientist at Goddard), and Josh Willis (JPL). The Friday program will air live on NASA TV and stream online at: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv" rel="nofollow">www.nasa.gov/nasatv</a>. To ask questions via social media during the televised event, use the hashtag #askNASA. <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

The greens and blues of the ocean color from NASA satellite data have provided new insights into how climate and ecosystem processes affect the growth cycles of phytoplankton—microscopic aquatic plants important for fish populations and Earth’s carbon cycle. At the bottom of the ocean’s food chain, phytoplankton account for roughly half of the net photosynthesis on Earth. Their photosynthesis consumes carbon dioxide and plays a key role in transferring carbon from the atmosphere to the ocean. Unlike the plant ecosystems on land, the amount of phytoplankton in the ocean is always followed closely by the abundance of organisms that eat phytoplankton, creating a perpetual dance between predators and prey. This new analysis shows how tiny imbalances in this predator-prey relationship, caused by environmental variability, give rise to massive phytoplankton blooms, having huge impacts on ocean productivity, fisheries and carbon cycling. The study was released Thursday, Sept. 25, in the journal Nature Climate Change. “The continuous year-in and year-out measurements provided by NASA’s ocean color satellites have dramatically changed our understanding of phytoplankton dynamics on the Earth,” said Mike Behrenfeld, author of the study and phytoplankton ecologist at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. “What we now see is a closely linked system of phytoplankton cell division and consumption lying at the heart of the plant’s annual cycle.” Behrenfeld calls this close predator-prey relationship the “Dance of the Plankton.” This view is different from previous perspectives that have simply focused on environmental resources used by phytoplankton to grow, such as nutrients and light. The new view is important because it reveals that tiny imbalances can greatly impact Earth’s ecology. Read more: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/ZkVMHG" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/ZkVMHG</a> Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Norman Kuring; USGS <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

Off the northeastern edge of Antarctica’s Amery Ice Shelf lies Mackenzie Bay, which was painted with a ghostly blue-green mass in early February 2012. Similarly colored tendrils also streamed northward across the ocean, their flow sometimes interrupted by icebergs. Multiple factors might account for the ghostly shapes, including low-lying clouds or katabatic winds—downslope winds blowing toward the coast, which can freeze the water at the ocean surface. But an intriguing and perhaps more likely explanation involves processes occurring below the ice shelf. An ice shelf is a thick slab of ice often fed by glaciers attached to the coastline. The shelf floats on the ocean surface, with seawater circulating underneath. Like most ice shelves, the Amery is very thick in the upstream area near the shore. It thins significantly as it stretches northward away from the continent. Water at depth is subject to much greater pressure than water at the surface, and one effect of this intense pressure is that it effectively lowers the freezing point. So water circulating at depth beneath the Amery Ice Shelf may be slightly below the temperature at which it would normally begin to freeze. As some that water wells up along the underbelly of the shelf, the pressure is reduced and the water begins to freeze even though the temperature may not change. As it freezes, this deep-ocean water forms needle-like crystals known as frazil. The crystals are only 3 to 4 millimeters (0.12 to 0.16 inches) wide, but a sufficient concentration of frazil can change the appearance of the water. A frazil-rich plume probably accounts for the blue-green waters off the Amery Ice Shelf in the image above. Modeling of ocean circulation beneath the shelf indicates just such a plume emerging in that location. Frazil-rich water explains the plume, and wind transport of the surface water explains the long streams extending northward. As the sub-iceshelf water mixes with surface water around the Antarctic coastline, the frazil is gradually melted and the streams disappear. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this natural-color image of Mackenzie Bay and the ice shelf on February 12, 2012. NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team. Caption by Michon Scott with information from Helen A. Fricker, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Robert Massom, Australian Antarctic Division; Ben Galton-Fenzi, University of Tasmania, Australia; and Florence Fetterer, Walt Meier, and Ted Scambos, National Snow and Ice Data Center. Credit: <b><a href="http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow"> NASA Earth Observatory</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b> Instrument: EO-1 - ALI