LOS ALAMOS, N.M. -– New Mexico scientists are working with NASA on a project to map out the boundary between the solar system and the rest of the galaxy.

NASA as well as others in the science community have come together to build a revolutionary spacecraft.

They’re calling it the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe mission, better known as “IMAP.”

“The IMAP mission is designed to explore the boundary between where our solar system ends and the rest of the Galaxy begins,” said Daniel Reisenfeld, a LANL space scientist. “Los Alamos National Laboratory has a very important role in the IMAP Mission.”

Reisenfeld says LANL is making two of the 10 scientific instruments to detect particles that come from the interstellar boundary region.

“IMAP looks in all directions in the sky over the course of a year, and it can create a map. And so we can learn about the shape and energy content of the interstellar boundary through these maps,” said Reisenfeld. 

There’s also another instrument Los Alamos is providing for this mission:

“That’s called “SWEE” for Solar Wind Electron Experiment. SWEE is designed to detect electrons that come off of the sun, and it’s part of the system that’s part of that early warning system to alert us to energetic storms coming off of the sun. We know, for example, back in the 1600s there was a period of time when sunspots completely disappeared off of the sun. There were no sunspots, and correlated with this was something in Europe known as the little Ice Age.

During the little Ice Age the temps froze the glaciers and the Alps grew.

Even without these dramatic events that seem to have historically occurred, it could be the case that if the sun’s output were to diminish, it could affect life on Earth by impacting cancer rates, or other sorts of effects that we don’t even understand.”  

Reisenfeld says this study can prepare officials ahead of time to take appropriate measures to protect our planet from any emergency.

“The fact that IMAP will be part of that early warning system is of vital importance to protecting our space assets,” said Reisenfeld. 

The launch will take place in 2025.