PUNCH News

The Science Operations Center (SOC) for PUNCH received the first data packets from the four spacecraft. The data downlinks included both engineering and test image packets. The SOC successfully decompressed the packets and reconstructed the expected striped test pattern image. Using a test pattern allows the SOC to verify that data is properly transmitted and formed into images. The spacecraft sends engineering packets down alongside the images that indicate spacecraft parameters such as orientation and position. The SOC’s automated processing routines ingested this data and confirmed the spacecraft are pointing toward the Sun as expected. A good estimate of the spacecraft pointing is critical for the SOC’s data processing; it would not be possible to construct the seamless mosaics required to answer PUNCH’s science questions without it. The next step is to collect and process calibration images without light on the sensor, commonly called dark images. More information about the SOC processing can be found on GitHub.

The heliophysics community came out to celebrate the impending launch by presenting and discussing the latest developments in PUNCH science, including the origin and evolution of the ambient solar wind and turbulence within it, and the physics, tracking and predictability of transient events such as coronal mass ejections, corotating interaction regions, and shocks. Beyond these primary PUNCH science topics, the workshop provided a forum for exploring PUNCH connections to the magnetosphere and aurora, zodiacal dust, and sun-grazing comets and other solar system objects. PUNCH's readiness to engage scientists around the world was demonstrated through presentations and a hands-on tutorial on data access, and its synergies with a range of community missions and models explored through panel discussions. The meeting took place February 25th and 26th, 2025 at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA, and benefited from the support and involvement of Cal Poly students and faculty. It was further enriched by PUNCH outreach events before and during the meeting.

The four PUNCH spacecraft are separating nominally and performing well sixty hours post-launch, as they prepare for their groundbreaking science. All four have demonstrated high speed S-band communications, entered fine pointing mode, and are in good health and ready to transition to “normal operations”. Commissioning will continue, but will be staffed single shift only (rather than 24-hours) and use nominal pass priority with the ground data network provider. Ground tracks from the spacecraft themselves (using on board GPS) agree with NORAD tracks and are consistent with both the mission design and deployment videos from launch day. The PUNCH Observatories carry orbital-trim thrusters; a midcourse correction is planned for later in March, to ensure identical orbital planes and even spacing as the PUNCH WFI Observatories drift to 120° relative spacing in mean anomaly.

In the predawn hours of March 4, the PUNCH spacecraft – now encapsulated in a 43-foot-tall Falcon 9 fairing – were transported across Vandenberg Space Force Base to the SpaceX hangar and pad failiities at Space Launch Center 4, on the south side of the base. The moment was captured by a passenger on the morning Amtrak train from San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles, visible through the tinted window of a passenger car as the train paused at the Surf Beach station west of VSFB.

The four PUNCH spacecraft are now at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California, undergoing final test and integration to the “launch stack” with the SPHEREx spacecraft. All five spacecraft are planned to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base no earlier than February 27, 2025.

On 15 January, PUNCH passed a combined pre-shipment & operational readiness review, clearing us to ship the four spacecraft and necessary ground equipment from SwRI’s headquarters in San Antonio, TX to to Vandenberg Space Force Base. There they will undergo final integration with the launch carrier, the SPHEREx spacecraft, and a Falcon 9 rocket. The PUNCH team's operational plans, tools, training, and personnel were found to be sufficient to operate and commission the constellation from the Mission Operations Center at SwRI’s offices in Boulder, Colorado. Congratulations to everyone on a hard-fought and hard-won I&T campaign!

We invite the community to the sixth PUNCH (Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere) Science Meeting on February 25th and 26th, 2025 at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA. Major science topics include the origin and evolution of the ambient solar wind and turbulence within it and the physics, tracking, and predictability of transient events including CMEs, CIRs, and shocks.