| Astrophysics (Index) | About |
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) is a NASA Small Explorer Program (SMEX) space mission dedicated to mapping the boundary between the solar system and interstellar space. It was launched in 2008 with the goal of a 2-year mission but remains active in 2024 and has the potential to operate for about thirty more years. Its work is detecting energetic neutral atoms (ENAs, which are generally from the heliosheath), carrying out this work from Earth orbit. The instruments are IBEX-Hi and IBEX-Low which detect higher and lower energy ENAs.