On Wednesday morning, SpaceX launched three spacecraft, each designed to study the Sun and space weather and their impact on Earth.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida around 7:30 a.m. ET.
As Space.com reports, the primary payload on board the spacecraft was NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, also known as IMAP.
This observatory plans to study the heliosphere—a large magnetic bubble created by the Sun that surrounds the entire solar system. This bubble protects the solar system from harmful radiation, which is critical for astronauts working in space.
NASA said the IMAP observatory will be able to warn astronauts in space about radiation.
Nicky Fox, deputy administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said radiation poses a “real threat” to astronauts working on the moon and potentially beyond.
“Humanity has always existed only within our protective magnetosphere, and as we travel beyond that protective shield, whether to the Moon or Mars, the useful information gained from missions like IMAP will keep our astronauts safe,” she said.
The IMAP observatory, along with two other probes, will travel 108 days to reach the Lagrange point, which is approximately 1 million miles from Earth in the direction of the Sun, NASA reports.
One of the other two probes, NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, is expected to analyze Earth's exosphere “to better understand how space weather affects our planet,” the agency said.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Follow-on spacecraft is expected to track solar storms and provide advance warnings both in space and on Earth. Solar storms are known to cause problems with the Earth's magnetic field, as well as satellites and even power grids on Earth.
SpaceX sends cargo ship to space station
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