In 2018, NASA selected a team led by David J. McComas of Princeton University to implement the mission,[3] which is currently scheduled to launch no earlier than September 2025.

In addition, IMAP will also directly measure the neutral particles of the interstellar medium, because they flow through the heliosphere relatively unmodified.

Shown here (top panel) are oxygen fluences measured at 1 AU by several instruments onboard Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) during a 3-year period, with representative particle spectra obtained for gradual and impulsive Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs), corotating interaction regions (CIRs), Anomalous Cosmic Rays (ACRs), and Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs), and (top panel inset) ion fluxes in the Voyager 1 direction using in situ observations from Voyager and remote ENA observations from Cassini–Huygens and Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX).

(Middle panel) SWAPI, CoDICE, and HIT provide comprehensive composition, energy, and angular distributions for all major solar wind species (core and halo), interstellar and inner source pick-up ions, suprathermal, energetic, and accelerated ions from SEPs, interplanetary shocks, as well as ACRs.

[4] IMAP-Lo is a single-pixel neutral atom imager that gives energy and angle-resolved measurements of ISN atoms (H, He, O, Ne, and D) tracked over >180° in ecliptic longitude and energy resolved global maps of ENA H and O. IMAP-Lo has heritage from the IBEX-Lo on IBEX but provides much larger collection power.

Ultra's primary differences from JENI are the use of two identical copies, one mounted perpendicular to the IMAP spin axis (Ultra90) and one mounted at 45° from the anti-sunward spin axis (Ultra45) for better sky coverage, and the use of slightly thicker, UV-filtering foils covering the back plane MCPs to reduce backgrounds associated with interstellar Lyman-α photons.

CoDICELo is an electrostatic analyzer with a time-of-flight versus energy (TOF/E) subsystem to measure the 3D velocity distribution functions (VDFs) and ionic charge state and mass composition of ~0.5–80 keV/q ions.

HIT, heavily based on the Low Energy Telescope (LET) on the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), delivers full-sky coverage with a large geometry factor.

IDEX's sensor head has a large effective target area (700 cm2 [110 sq in]), which allows it to collect a statistically significant number of dust impacts (> 100/year).

The helioglow is formed by the interaction between interstellar neutral hydrogen (ISN H) and solar photons in a specific ultraviolet region called the Lyman-α waveband.

A spectral filter allows only photons found in the Lyman-α wavelength band into a channel electron multiplier (CEM) detector that counts them.

GLOWS’ FOV shifts with IMAP's daily spin axis redirection, allowing for sequential observations of the structure of the solar wind from separate locations around the Sun.

GLOWS design and assembly is led by the Space Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland (CBK PAN).

This is sufficient to upload any commands, download the week's worth of science data and housekeeping, and perform spacecraft ranging required for navigation.

IMAP will continuously broadcast a small subset (500 bit/s) of the science data for I-ALiRT to supporting ground stations around the world when not in contact with the DSN.

In either case, the SOC processes these real-time observations to create the data products required by the space weather community.