With the installation of a charged particle detector on Dec. 3, 2024, all 10 of NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) science instruments have been fully integrated on the spacecraft.
IMAP Instrument Installations Complete

With the installation of a charged particle detector on Dec. 3, 2024, all 10 of NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) science instruments have been fully integrated on the spacecraft.
NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than September 2025 for the launch of the agency’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) spacecraft. The new date provides additional time for IMAP flight systems preparations prior to launch.
An instrument that will collect and analyze ions — charged particles — has been integrated into NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
Scientists and engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, are poised to deliver the High-energy Ion Telescope (HIT) instrument.
Another of the instruments planned for flight aboard NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) is ready for installation on the spacecraft.
The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) has successfully completed Key Decision Point D (KDP-D). This milestone allows the mission to move from development and design to the assembly, testing, and integration phase.
NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) is embarking on its yearlong integration and testing campaign, during which all of the instruments and components will be added to the spacecraft structure, tested to ensure they will survive the harsh environments of launch and space, and made ready to execute its mission.
The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) marked the completion of an important step on the path to spacecraft assembly, test, and launch operations this week at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland.
NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission held a critical design review (CDR) last week with a NASA Standing Review Board (SRB). This mission-level review was the culmination of individual CDRs conducted for all the instruments and subsystems.
NASA and the UK Space Agency have agreed to cooperate on NASA's heliophysics mission, the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP). The agreement, signed Sept. 22, 2021, will allow Imperial College London (ICL) to design and build one of IMAP's 10 instruments – a magnetometer called MAG – as well as provide ground support and personnel necessary to support the instrument and the IMAP science team.