NASA Caruthers Observatory – On March 1, 2026, NASA’s Caruthers Observatory begins its two-year science mission. It studies the Earth’s exosphere, the outermost layer of the atmosphere, rich in hydrogen (seen in the ultraviolet as the “geocorona”).

From its Sun-Earth L1 orbit, about 1 million miles from Earth, it continuously photographs the glow of the geocorona. These observations will help scientists understand how the upper atmosphere reacts to space weather events from the Sun. Mission Status and Overview According to information provided by NASA, Caruthers is scheduled to launch in September 2025.

It has reached its coronal orbit around the Sun-Earth L1 point by January 2026. Carruthers is equipped with two ultraviolet cameras to take pictures of the hydrogen geocorona. With Carruthers’ help, the expansion and contraction of the hydrogen halo around the exosphere could be studied over a period of two years.

It provides information about how Earth’s upper atmosphere reacts to solar storms and strong currents of the solar wind. Mission Goals and Team The Carruthers Observatory is a small satellite developed by BAE Systems, with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign leading the way. It is equipped with two UV cameras and is the first satellite designed to explore the exosphere around Earth.

It is supported by the University of California at Berkeley and Utah State University (for payload development) and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (for mission management). It is named after a scientist on the Apollo program who worked during the 1960s: George Carruthers.

This will help answer some basic questions about the shape of the hydrogen halo and how Earth and Mars lose water to space.