Countdown to launch:
PUNCH is a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) mission to better understand how the mass and energy of the Sun’s corona become the solar wind that fills the solar system. Four suitcase-sized satellites will work together to produce images of the entire inner solar system around the clock. Download summary poster (114 MB PDF).
Every second, over 300,000 tons of material leave the Sun and streak outward into space. This solar wind impacts everything in the solar system, including Earth. It causes the beautiful northern lights. It also makes the space weather that threatens our power grids, satellites, and astronauts. For the first time, PUNCH will track the solar wind continuously across the void, to help us better understand the Sun, the solar wind, and their effects on humanity.
