NASA will hold a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EST on Tuesday, February 4, to share details about the new PUNCH mission. This mission is planned to launch no earlier than Thursday, February 27.
The PUNCH mission includes four small satellites working together in space. These satellites will orbit the Earth and study the Sun’s outer atmosphere, called the corona. By watching how the Sun’s corona turns into solar wind—a stream of charged particles flowing through space—scientists hope to understand how the Sun affects space weather and the Earth.
What You Need to Know About the Teleconference
The teleconference will feature key experts, including Joe Westlake, NASA’s heliophysics division director; Nicholeen Viall, PUNCH mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; and Craig DeForest, the PUNCH mission’s principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute.
Media representatives who want to join the teleconference must RSVP by 12 p.m. on February 4. To RSVP, email Abbey Interrante at [email protected]. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online for those interested.
About the PUNCH Mission
The PUNCH satellites will launch together with NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The mission is led by the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
PUNCH aims to give scientists a better understanding of the Sun’s atmosphere and how it connects with Earth by capturing three-dimensional images of the corona and solar wind.
This teleconference offers a great chance to learn about NASA’s innovative PUNCH mission and how it will help unlock the mysteries of the Sun and space weather that impact our planet.
