NASA will investigate the effects of the solar wind

NASA has announced new missions to investigate the solar wind. One of the missions is aimed at investigating how the solar wind is formed, while the other mission is studying the effects on Earth.

According to the space agency, the two new missions should start within two years: the goal is to launch the necessary equipment into space before August 2022. With the Punch mission, which stands for Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, NASA will try to do research at the edges of the sun, to discover how particles are emitted there that eventually form the solar wind. The solar wind is tracked with four satellites, each the size of a suitcase, in order to be able to better predict the formation of solar winds.

At the same time, the mission Tracers, which stands for Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, must be launched. The satellites needed for this mission will be launched into space at the same time as Punch, but the Tracers satellites will focus on the magnetic field around the north pole. The intention is to measure the interaction of the earth’s magnetism with the solar wind, so that the effects on the earth can be mapped more clearly. This should help to get a better idea of ​​how the solar wind can disrupt things like GPS or the electricity network.

The Punch mission has received funding of $165 million, while the amount for Tracers is $115 million. Researchers from the Southwest Research Institute and the University of Iowa will lead the research projects.