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Southwest Research Institute has delivered the novel Compact Dual Ion Composition Experiment (CoDICE) instrument for final integration into NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft. Scheduled to launch in late 2025, IMAP will help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, the magnetic bubble that surrounds and protects our solar system.

CoDICE will measure the distribution and composition of interstellar pickup ions, particles that make it through the "heliospheric" filter. The instrument will also characterize solar wind ions as well as the mass and composition of highly energized solar particles associated with flares and coronal mass ejections.

"We integrated the instrument into the spacecraft on June 20," said Susan Pope, executive director of SwRI's Space Science Division and IMAP's payload manager. "IMAP will give us a more complete picture of the interaction between the interstellar medium and the solar wind, providing a better understanding of our place in the universe."

The heliosphere is created by the constant flow of particles from the sun known as the solar wind, which separates our solar system from the interstellar medium, the ancient cast-off winds of other stars. IMAP instruments will collect and analyze particles that make it through the barrier. The mission will also examine the fundamental processes that accelerate particles throughout the heliosphere and beyond. These energetic particles and cosmic rays can harm astronauts and space-based technologies.

"Initially developed through the Institute's internal research and development program, CoDICE combines the capabilities of multiple instruments into one patented sensor," said Dr. Mihir Desai, director of SwRI's Space Research Department and an IMAP co-investigator and part of the CoDICE leadership team. "The instrument is about the size of a 5-gallon paint bucket, weighing about 22 pounds, and has a unique and beautiful thermal management design."

Spacecraft experience extreme temperature variations, ranging from the intense heat of direct sunlight to the frigid cold of deep space. To maintain operational reliability and longevity, the half of CoDICE that will always face the sun has a shiny "gold" surface to deflect heat energy. The opposite side has a matte black surface to absorb as much heat as possible.

SwRI plays a major role in the IMAP mission, managing the payload office and providing a scientific instrument and other technology for the mission.

"SwRI is also contributing to the development of the next-generation energetic neutral atom imagers as well as electronics to support IMAP instruments that measure solar wind electrons," said Pope. "We are also providing digital electronics for four IMAP instruments."

By studying the nature of the interaction of solar and stellar winds, IMAP will join a fleet of NASA heliophysics missions seeking to understand how the sun affects the space environment near Earth and across the solar system. Heliophysics spacecraft studying the sun, near-Earth space, and the boundaries of the heliosphere form a system observatory. Understanding the fundamental processes that govern our neighborhood in space continues to build a foundation for the prediction of Earth's and the solar system's space weather.