5 min read<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s LEXI Will Provide X-Ray Vision of Earth\u2019s Magnetosphere<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A NASA X-ray imager is heading to the Moon as part of NASA\u2019s Artemis campaign, where it will capture the first global images of the magnetic field that shields Earth from solar radiation.<\/p>\n
The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager, or LEXI, instrument is one of 10 payloads aboard the next\u00a0lunar delivery through NASA\u2019s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services<\/a>)\u00a0initiative, set to launch from the agency\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than mid-January, with Firefly Aerospace\u2019s Blue Ghost Lander. The instrument will support NASA\u2019s goal to understand how our home planet responds to space weather, the conditions in space driven by the Sun.<\/p>\n Once the dust clears from its lunar landing, LEXI will power on, warm up, and direct its focus back toward Earth. For six days, it will collect images of the X-rays emanating from the edges of our planet\u2019s vast magnetosphere<\/a>. This comprehensive view could illustrate how this protective boundary responds to space weather and other cosmic forces, as well as how it can open to allow streams of charged solar particles in, creating aurora and potentially damaging infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to get this big picture of Earth\u2019s space environment,\u201d said Brian Walsh, a space physicist at Boston University and LEXI\u2019s principal investigator. \u201cA lot of physics can be esoteric or difficult to follow without years of specific training, but this will be science that you can see.\u201d<\/p>\n What LEXI will see is the low-energy X-rays that form when a stream of particles from the Sun, called the solar wind, slams into Earth\u2019s magnetic field. This happens at the edge of the magnetosphere, called the magnetopause. Researchers have recently been able to detect these X-rays in a patchwork of observations from other satellites and instruments. From the vantage point of the Moon, however, the whole magnetopause will be in LEXI\u2019s field of view.<\/p>\n The team back on Earth will be working around the clock to track how the magnetosphere expands, contracts, and changes shape in response to the strength of the solar wind.<\/p>\n \u201cWe expect to see the magnetosphere breathing out and breathing in, for the first time,\u201d\u00a0said Hyunju Connor, an astrophysicist at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the NASA lead for LEXI. \u201cWhen the solar wind is very strong, the magnetosphere will shrink and push backward toward Earth, and then expand when the solar wind weakens.\u201d<\/p>\n The LEXI instrument will also be poised to capture magnetic reconnection, which is when the magnetosphere\u2019s field lines merge with those in the solar wind and release energetic particles that rain down on Earth\u2019s poles. This could help researchers answer lingering questions about these events, including whether they happen at multiple sites simultaneously, whether they occur steadily or in bursts, and more.<\/p>\n These solar particles streaming into Earth\u2019s atmosphere can cause brilliant auroras, but they can also damage satellites orbiting the planet or interfere with power grids on the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to understand how nature behaves,\u201d Connor said, \u201cand by understanding this we can help protect our infrastructure in space.\u201d<\/p>\n The CLPS delivery won\u2019t be LEXI\u2019s first trip to space. A team at Goddard, including Walsh, built the instrument (then called STORM) to test technology to detect low-energy X-rays over a wide field of view. In 2012, STORM launched into space on a\u00a0sounding rocket<\/a>, collected X-ray images, and then fell back to Earth.<\/p>\n It ended up in a display case at Goddard, where it sat for a decade. When NASA put out a call for CLPS projects that could be done quickly and with a limited budget, Walsh thought of the instrument and the potential for what it could see from the lunar surface.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d break the glass \u2014 not literally \u2014 but remove it, restore it, and refurbish it, and that would allow us to look back and get this global picture that we\u2019ve never had before,\u201d he said. Some old optics and other components were replaced, but the instrument was overall in good shape and is now ready to fly again. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of really rich science we can get from this.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the CLPS model, NASA is investing in commercial delivery services to the Moon to enable industry growth and support long-term lunar exploration. As a primary customer for CLPS deliveries, NASA aims to be one of many customers on future flights. NASA Goddard is a lead science collaborator on LEXI. NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the development of seven of the 10 CLPS payloads carried on Firefly\u2019s Blue Ghost lunar lander, including LEXI.<\/p>\n Learn more about CLPS and Artemis at:
Credits: NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/assets.science.nasa.gov\/dynamicimage\/assets\/science\/missions\/lexi\/53879543672_542be071cc_o.png?w=2500&h=1385&fit=clip&crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint\")
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https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/clps<\/a><\/p>\n