Space Weather and Infrastructure Risk

NASA says its Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) has begun a two‑year mission to map the heliosphere, the vast bubble of solar wind and magnetic fields surrounding the solar system that shields Earth from much of the galaxy’s high‑energy radiation. The spacecraft will study energetic particles from the Sun, magnetic fields between the planets and interstellar dust, with a focus on how the solar wind interacts with interstellar space at the heliosphere’s boundary. Data from IMAP are already feeding into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, which uses them to issue near–real‑time alerts like Tuesday’s warning that a strong solar flare could briefly disrupt radio and other communications on Earth. Scientists say the mission aims to answer core questions in heliophysics about how charged particles are energized and how solar activity drives space weather, at a time when solar activity has been rising after a long lull. Because U.S. satellites, GPS, power systems and astronauts are all vulnerable to extreme space‑weather events, IMAP’s measurements could help improve forecasting and give operators more lead time to protect critical infrastructure.