Episode 76: PUNCH: Imaging the Solar Wind

Technology Today

Launch is approaching for NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere or PUNCH mission, led by SwRI. Four suitcase-sized satellites equipped with special instruments are setting out to capture the first images of the solar wind, the stream of charged particles that flows out from the Sun’s corona. PUNCH will examine the solar wind in low-Earth orbit, protected by our planet’s magnetosphere. The mission is exploring space weather and its impact on Earth, including how it affects power grids, satellites and astronauts. Listen now as Dr. Craig DeForest, SwRI space scientist, heliophysics expert and PUNCH principal investigator, discusses the mission’s upcoming launch, how PUNCH will make the invisible solar wind visible for the first time and his inspiration to study the Sun, the star that powers our planet.