PUNCH News

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.

We invited the community to the fifth PUNCH (Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere) Science Meeting (June 20-21, 2024) in Boulder, Colorado. Major science topics included 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.

The WFI-1 Observatory is now fully integrated! It is the PUNCH fleet leader through environmental testing, which is scheduled to begin this week. On Friday 26-April, the WFI-1 Observatory collected its first science image through the WFI instrument: a team selfie in the Building 299 clean room where PUNCH I&T is proceeding. The image includes the WFI baffle “horizon” (at left, as the Observatory was on its side in the mounting cage), the massive doors into the high bay, one of the other Observatories in the background, and seven team members who were conducting the test. From left to right: Kelly Smith, Jim Foster, Ronnie Killough, Glenn Laurent, Emily Fisher, Brandon Perez, and Tonya Brody, all in cleanroom garb, with another PUNCH spacecraft visible just over Tonya’s shoulder.

The PUNCH PI Craig DeForest and PUNCH Outreach Lead Cherilynn Morrow presented, live at the Cotton Bowl Stadium, the mission and its relevance to solar eclipse viewing and sunwatching across time and space.

After six years in use the PUNCH logo got a makeover in April. The newer rendering is similar to the old, but with some important fixes. The central swoops now reproduce better in more different media. The diffraction spikes on the stars work correctly (all facing the same direction). Additionally, the new render is a scalable SVG file, allowing reproduction on media of all sizes from pop-sockets to Falcon 9 stages.

The PUNCH instrument, spacecraft, and integration teams presented the status of the mission to NASA and the PUNCH Standing Review Board (SRB) on the 27th and 28th of February, in the first SRB meeting since Critical Design Review in 2022. The PUNCH instruments are being integrated to the spacecraft now, in preparation for flight. The Pre-Environmental Review (PER) ensures that all is well before the completed Observatories undergo final testing for flight: vibration, thermal performance in vacuum, etc.

The Southwest Research Institute WFI team have delivered their first flight instrument (WFI-1) to the Integration and Test team for integration onto a flight PUNCH Observatory! WFI is a wide-field heliospheric imager, similar to an externally occulted coronagraph with a linear geometry. It will view a 40° wide field-of-view extending from 4.5° to approximately 45° from the Sun. WFI-1 will be integrated to a PUNCH spacecraft later this winter, in preparation for observatory environmental testing through the spring of 2024. PUNCH is scheduled to launch by early April of 2025.

The topic of this telecon was in-situ/remote-sensing/modeling synergies. Click to go to meeting page with links to presentations.

The Naval Research Laboratory team has completed integration and test of the PUNCH Narrow Field Imager (NFI), and delivered the instrument to SwRI for integration into the PUNCH Observatories! NFI is an externally occulted coronagraph based on NRL’s CCOR design. it covers the central part of the PUNCH field of view, from approximately 5 to 32 solar radii from the Sun itself. NFI will be the first primary instrument integrated to a PUNCH Observatory, in late calendar year 2023, and will fly with the rest of PUNCH when the mission launches (est. April 2025).

The Colorado Space Grant Consortium successfully delivered its student collaboration instrument, the STudent Energetic Activity Monitor (STEAM), for integration into the PUNCH OBservatories! STEAM is a soft X-ray spectrometer build around a solid state detector, with a small microprocessor to interface with the spacecraft. STEAM will view the Sun as a star, and probe the energetics of solar falres and coronal heating throughout the PUNCH mission. STEAM will be integrated onto the Narrow Field imager (NFI) Observatory and fly with NFI when the mission launches (est. April 2025).

The fourth PUNCH (Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere) Science Meeting was successfully held in the summer of 2023 in Boulder, CO. We solicited abstracts for poster/oral presentations from the community on subjects related to this topic. Click to go to meeting page with links to presentations and posters.

The topic of this telecon was synergies with other missions/projects. Click to go to meeting page with links to presentations.

The team of STEM professionals carrying out the outreach program for the PUNCH mission convened its first, in-person Annual Retreat of ~30 core team members, collaborators, advisors, and other partners during the last week of September 2022. The COVID pandemic had prevented the PUNCH outreach team from meeting in person last year after NASA approved our mission-embedded outreach proposal in January 2021. This year’s gathering joined diverse collaborators who had been working together remotely on PUNCH Outreach since the Spring of 2020.

The third PUNCH (Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere) Science Meeting was on August 12th, 2022. Attendance was high and the attendees were highly engaged. Major science topics included the origin and evolution of the ambient solar wind and turbulence within it, mission outreach, and the physics, tracking, and predictability of transient events including CMEs, CIRs, and shocks.

PUNCH has passed its Critical Design Review, a major milestone in the course of the mission. The three-day design review was a hybrid meeting, held in person at SwRI headquarters in San Antonio, TX, March 1-3. The team presented current mission design, and fabrication, integration, and test plans, to representatives from NASA and from the mission’s independent Standing Review Board. This was the first mission milestone meeting to be held in-person, since the initial Phase B kickoff meeting held in 2019 immediately after selection.

PUNCH science and outreach development continues, with presentations at the Fall 2021 AGU. PDFs of posters are available on the PUNCH publications / presentation page, and videos of talks on the PUNCH Youtube Playlist.

The PUNCH 2 Science Meeting took place August 9-11, 2021. If you missed the talks, or just want to see them again, they are available via a Youtube Playlist, and also through the workshop agenda with time-stamped access to specific talks.

If you are a research scientist, educator, science writer, or other communicator of Sun-related science, heliophysics, or space weather to non-specialist audiences, please complete this survey. The survey results will have a powerful influence on the development of PUNCH Outreach products, PUNCH News Items, and any other efforts in the communication of our science. Your responses will validate our selection of an appropriate set of misunderstandings to include in a product that will provide proven strategies for addressing each misunderstanding.

NASA has funded a five-year outreach program in association with the Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH), a solar mission led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). The PUNCH Outreach Program, also led by SwRI, is collaborating with five planetariums and science centers in four states, plus other multicultural partners in the southwestern United States.

PUNCH has passed its Key Decision Point C, and has been confirmed as a “GO” for development and flight. The decision was made in a hybrid in-person & remote meeting at NASA Headquarters between project management, the Explorers Program, the Mission Directorate, the joints heads of the Science Divisions, and the Associate Administrator for Science. The mission is transitioning to a merged Phase C (Final Design) and Phase D (Assembly, Integration, & Test). PUNCH Phase C/D continues through launch plus 90 days. More details will be posted shortly.

The PUNCH mission consists of four spacecraft in Earth orbit that together will be uniquely capable of imaging the space environment from the outer corona of the Sun all the way to Earth orbit. There is a Near Field Imager and three Wide Field Imagers (WFIs).

PUNCH 2 Science Meeting First Announcement (March 31, 2021) We invite the community to the second PUNCH (Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere) Science Meeting (August 9-11, 2021), an in-development NASA mission that will image the outer corona and solar wind throughout the inner heliosphere. Major science topics include origin and evolution of the ambient solar wind and turbulence within it, and the physics and predictability of transient events including CMEs, CIRs, and shocks.

During June, the PUNCH Outreach Program deployed the first two expeditions to collect photography at an ancient Sun-watching site in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Our friends in the Native community emphasized that these sites are as alive today as they were to the ancestors, and in working at such places it is critical that we respect them and have a pure heart. We need to honor the ancestors. As such, the photography team learned to engage in a moment of reflection and appreciation each day before starting work at the site.

SAN ANTONIO — May 24, 2021 — On May 20, 2021, the Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission achieved an important milestone, passing NASA’s Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of its spacecraft and payload experiments. Southwest Research Institute is leading PUNCH, a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) mission that will integrate understanding of the Sun’s corona, the outer atmosphere visible during total solar eclipses, with the “solar wind” that fills the solar system.

PUNCH has instituted a program to recognize and encourage early-career scientists working with the Science Team on problems that support and enhance PUNCH mission science. PUNCH Associate Investigators (AIs) pursue science projects with mentorship from PUNCH co-I(s), attend team meetings, participate in PUNCH working group activities, and present at PUNCH science meetings. They act as liaisons, communicating PUNCH science to the broader community and community needs back to the project. In this way, they help grow the PUNCH user base, and also benefit from the career-enriching experience of being embedded in a NASA mission at an early stage of their careers.

PUNCH, the Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere, is an in-development NASA mission that will image the outer corona and solar wind throughout the inner heliosphere. Major science topics include origin and evolution of the ambient solar wind and turbulence within it, and the physics and predictability of transient events including CMEs, CIRs, and shocks.

The first PUNCH Science Team meeting was held virtually June 3-5, 2020. 44 team members and colleagues attended, sharing information about the mission, instruments, science goals, and planned data products. We also learned about STEAM, our student enhancement option, and plans for PUNCH Outreach. The Outreach presentation included a member of the Hopi tribe who read aloud his letter of support for our envisioned plan. There are many Science Team members who are experienced and interested in contributing to Outreach and Communications for PUNCH.

On April 8, 2020, the Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission achieved an important milestone, passing NASA's critical System Requirements Review/Mission Definition Review (SRR/MDR). Southwest Research Institute is leading PUNCH, a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) mission that will integrate understanding of the Sun's corona, the outer atmosphere visible during eclipses, with the tenuous "solar wind" filling the solar system.

The Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission has entered Phase B, which marks the transition from concept study to preliminary flight design. The mission, led by Southwest Research Institute, is set to launch in early 2023 and will image the Sun’s outer corona and beyond.