Space Weather Science to Enhance Forecasting with the NASA IMAP Active Link for Real-Time (I-ALiRT) System
Abstract The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) is a NASA heliophysics science mission that provides new coordinated and comprehensive observations of the inner and outer heliosphere. The IMAP observatory orbits at the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point, which is an ideal location for observing the space weather conditions upstream of Earth. Thus, in addition to providing new and groundbreaking heliophysics science observations, five in-situ instruments on IMAP make measurements that are critical for advancing space weather research and operational forecasting. These measurements are continuously telemetered in near real-time as part of the IMAP Active Link for Real-Time (I-ALiRT) space weather data system. I-ALiRT is based on the Real-Time Solar Wind (RTSW) data system from the NASA Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) mission and provides similar space weather data products at enhanced cadences as well as additional new data products. This paper describes the I-ALiRT instruments and measurements, real-time data flow architecture, and publicly available space weather data products.
Authors
- M. J. Starkey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7514-6571)
- M. I. Desai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7318-6008)
- N. A. Schwadron (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3737-9283)
- Daniel E. Matlin
- B. Heber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0960-5658)
- C. Reno
- T. S. Horbury (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7572-4690)
- J. G. Mitchell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4501-5452)
- J. S. Rankin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8111-1444)
- Greg Lucas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1331-1863)
- Evan J. Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4937-5594)
- L. M. Kistler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8240-5559)
- S. Livi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4149-7311)
- D. L. Turner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2425-7818)
- R. M. Skoug (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1991-2643)
- J. Knuth (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7066-7992)
- E. J. Zirnstein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7240-0618)
- E. R. Christian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2134-3937)
- Bishwas L. Shrestha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5247-4107)
- M. Gkioulidou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9979-2164)
- J. Mukherjee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8362-3008)
- Christina O. Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1604-3326)
- D. J. McComas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6160-1158)
- Brian Williams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1057-3940)
- K. W. Larsen
- L. Sandoval
- Alastair Crabtree (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9223-3366)
- Tori Marbois
Institutions
- Southwest Research Institute (US)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- University of New Hampshire (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Princeton University (US)
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (US)
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- Heliophysics (US)
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (US)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Space Science Reviews
- Published
- 2025-11-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-025-01244-9
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.46
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Princeton University