IBEX
Full Name: Interstellar Boundary Explorer
Phase: Operating
Launch Date: October 19, 2008
Mission Project Home Page: http://www.ibex.swri.edu/mission/index.shtml
Program(s): Explorers
IBEX will be the first mission designed to detect the edge of the Solar System. As the solar wind from the Sun flows out beyond the Kuiper belt, it collides with the material between the stars, forming a shock front. IBEX will contain two neutral atom imagers designed to detect particles from the termination shock at the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX will also study galactic cosmic rays, energetic particles from beyond the Solar System that pose a health and safety hazard for humans exploring beyond Earth orbit. Launch is scheduled for June 2008.
IBEX's sole, focused science objective is to discover the global interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium. IBEX achieves this objective by taking a set of global energetic neutral atom (ENA) images that answer four fundamental science questions:
- What is the global strength and structure of the termination shock?
- How are energetic protons accelerated at the termination shock?
- What are the global properties of the solar wind flow beyond the termination shock and in the heliotail?
- How does the interstellar flow interact with the heliosphere beyond the heliopause?