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Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH)

Animation still depicting the PUNCH Narrow Field Imager, or NFI instrument, from low Earth orbit. The NFI is designed to capture high-resolution images of the Sun's corona.Animation depicting the PUNCH Narrow Field Imager, or NFI instrument, from low Earth orbit. The NFI is designed to capture high-resolution images of the Sun's corona. Credit: NASA’s Conceptual Image Lab/Kim Dongjae, Walt Feimer
Animation still depicting the PUNCH Narrow Field Imager, or NFI instrument, from low Earth orbit. The NFI is designed to capture high-resolution images of the Sun’s corona.Animation depicting the PUNCH Narrow Field Imager, or NFI instrument, from low Earth orbit. The NFI is designed to capture high-resolution images of the Sun’s corona. Credit: NASA’s Conceptual Image Lab/Kim Dongjae, Walt Feimer

The PUNCH Mission

A constellation of four small satellites in low Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the entire inner heliosphere to learn how the Sun’s corona becomes the solar wind.

Key Questions

The PUNCH mission will use four suitcase-sized satellites to observe the Sun and its environment. Working together, the four PUNCH satellites will create a combined field of view and map the region where the Sun’s corona (or outer atmosphere) transitions to the solar wind (the constant outflow of material from the Sun).

The PUNCH mission will answer questions about:

  • How the Sun’s atmosphere transitions to the solar wind.
  • How structures in the solar wind are created.
  • How these processes affect the solar system.

Space Weather Impacts

The solar wind and energetic solar events like flares and coronal mass ejections can create space weather effects throughout the solar system. These phenomena can have a significant impact on human society and technology, from sparking and intensifying auroras to interfering with satellites or triggering power outages…

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