NASA has awarded a launch contract for its Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission to SpaceX for Falcon 9 launch in 2024. The mission will also carry four secondary payload satellites. The value of the contract covering launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and other costs is declared as US$109.4 million. The spacecraft will be sent on a trajectory to the L1 Lagrangian Point located on the Earth-Sun line, 1.5 million km from Earth and will study the Sun’s heliosphere. The secondary payload carried include the Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft for NASA, the Space Weather Follow-On L-1 spacecraft for the NOAA, and two other yet-to-be-announced spacecraft.
