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Interstellar Boundary Explorer

NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer is a Small Explorer mission that observes the interaction between the heliosphere and surrounding interstellar space. From a highly elliptical Earth orbit, its IBEX-Hi and IBEX-Lo instruments detect energetic neutral atoms arriving from the solar system's distant boundary and assemble global maps of that otherwise invisible region.

Interstellar Boundary Explorer
NASA · The exact NASA mission-page asset https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/263071main-ibex-illustration.jpg is a 1280x720 artist's concept of NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), and is byte-identical to the stored image. NASA Science's article https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/the-sun-spot/2023/03/06/nasas-ibex-spacecraft-resumes-science-operations/ describes the same composition and credits it to NASA. NASA Images and Media Usage Guidelines state that NASA content generally is not subject to copyright in the United States and may be used for factual or informational purposes with NASA acknowledgment. Commercial use must not imply NASA endorsement; NASA insignia, logotype, and identifiers are protected. NASA may host third-party material with separate rights, so any separately identified third-party material requires its own permission. This credit records the asset-level NASA source and does not imply endorsement or grant rights to NASA identifiers. · Source
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Identity

Aliases
IBEXSMEX-10
Name
Interstellar Boundary Explorer
Status
active

Details

Astronauts
-
Description
NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer is a Small Explorer mission that observes the interaction between the heliosphere and surrounding interstellar space. From a highly elliptical Earth orbit, its IBEX-Hi and IBEX-Lo instruments detect energetic neutral atoms arriving from the solar system's distant boundary and assemble global maps of that otherwise invisible region.
Destination
Earth orbit for mapping the boundary where the Sun’s heliosphere interacts with interstellar space using energetic neutral atoms
Launch Site
Outcome
IBEX produced the first all-sky energetic-neutral-atom maps of the heliospheric boundary and discovered a prominent ribbon-shaped emission feature not predicted before launch. Its continuing measurements track how the boundary changes with solar activity and constrain the properties of nearby interstellar material.
Programs
Start Date
2008-10-19
Vehicle Families

Links

Official Url
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/IBEX/

Assets & Meta

Creation Time
July 18, 2026 at 15:34:40 UTC
Updated Time
August 23, 2026 at 19:37:05 UTC
Image
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Affiliations
Search Name
Interstellar Boundary Explorer IBEX SMEX-10
Space Stations
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Vehicles