Missions to the Sun

IBEX is a NASA spacecraft studying how our heliosphere, the magnetic bubble surrounding our Sun and planets, interacts with interstellar space.

NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) collects and analyzes particles of solar, interplanetary, interstellar and galactic origins.

DSCOVR is a space weather station that monitors changes in the solar wind.

The twin STEREO spacecraft studied the structure and evolution of solar storms as they emerge from the Sun.

Wind is a spin-stabilized spacecraft that observes the solar wind that is about to impact the magnetosphere of Earth.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to enter interstellar space on Aug. 25, 2012, hurtling into the unknown with a golden greeting for whatever it meets.

After discovering new moons, rings, and other features, Voyager 2 set a course to exit our solar system, reaching interstellar space on Dec. 10, 2018, as a speedy, silent messenger from Earth.

ICON studied the frontier of space: the dynamic zone high in our atmosphere where Earth weather and space weather meet.

GOLD measures densities and temperatures in Earth’s thermosphere and ionosphere.

TIMED observes the chemistry and dynamics where Earth’s atmosphere meets space.

AIM is the first detailed exploration of Earth's highest clouds called noctilucent clouds, or night-shining clouds.

BARREL was a series of balloon campaigns to study Earth's radiation belts, designed to supplement measurements from NASA’s Van Allen Probes.

Geotail provided information about the way the magnetic envelope surrounding Earth, called the magnetosphere, responds to incoming material and energy from the Sun.

MMS investigates how the Sun's and Earth's magnetic fields connect and disconnect, explosively transferring energy from one to the other.

THEMIS studies how mass and energy move through near-Earth space, to determine what initiates auroras near the poles.

TWINS 1 and 2 study the connections between different areas of Earth's magnetosphere

The Van Allen Probes studied two extreme and dynamic regions of space known as the Van Allen Radiation Belts that surround Earth.

Flying into the outermost part of the Sun's atmosphere, the corona, for the first time, Parker Solar Probe is collecting measurements and images to expand our knowledge of the origin and evolution of solar wind.

An international cooperative mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, Solar Orbiter is a Sun-observing satellite with 10 science instruments, all designed to provide unprecedented insight into how our local star 'works.'

SDO studies how solar activity is created and drives space weather, by monitoring the Sun’s interior, atmosphere, magnetic field, and energy output.

STEREO was composed of two nearly identical observatories – one ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind – to capture stereoscopic images revealing the 3D structure of the Sun’s coronal mass ejections.

The joint NASA-ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory mission (SOHO), was designed to study the Sun inside out.

JAXA/NASA mission Hinode explores the magnetic fields of the Sun in order to improve understanding of what powers the solar atmosphere and drives solar eruptions.