Over its planned two-year duration, PUNCH will conduct extensive 3D imaging of the Sun's corona, or outermost atmosphere, and its transformation into the solar wind.

The solar wind, along with dynamic solar phenomena such as flares and coronal mass ejections, influences space weather throughout the solar system. These disturbances can impact human infrastructure, from intensifying auroras to disrupting satellite communications and power grids.

By capturing detailed measurements, PUNCH aims to enhance scientists' understanding of how these space weather events originate and develop. The mission's data could lead to improved forecasting of their arrival at Earth and their potential effects on robotic missions exploring space.

The four PUNCH satellites work in unison, forming a virtual instrument that covers the entire constellation. Data transmission occurs multiple times daily through ground-based antennas operated by the Swedish Space Corporation. The received information is then relayed to the mission operations center at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, which processes and distributes it to the science operations center, also located at SwRI.

All data collected by PUNCH will be made publicly available in real-time through the Solar Data Analysis Center at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, ensuring open access for scientists and the general public alike.

Southwest Research Institute, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, leads the mission and oversees spacecraft operations from Boulder, Colorado. PUNCH is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA Goddard under the direction of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

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Solar Science News at SpaceDaily