Mission Atlas
← Mission directory

Mission record

Carruthers Geocorona Observatory

Also known as Carruthers

NASA · Launched

Explore trajectory

Active · Active

NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory studies Earth's exosphere from the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Falcon 9
Launch site
Kennedy Space Center, Launch Complex 39A
Countries
United States
Mission types
Observatory

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Carruthers Geocorona Observatory launched

    Earth

  2. Orbit insertion

    Carruthers reached its Sun-Earth L1 halo orbit

    The final two-minute insertion maneuver established the intended halo orbit. The source reports the date, without a precise burn epoch.

  3. Milestone

    Carruthers began its primary science mission

    The two ultraviolet imagers began the 24-month primary science mission to observe Earth’s exosphere.

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Carruthers · Spacecraft

    Destinations: Earth

Trajectory record

Time-dependent navigation trajectory

Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.

J2000 · Sun-centered display · positions interpolated between source states

Coverage: September 24, 2025 to March 19, 2028

Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.

  • Carruthers Geocorona Observatory: Reconstructed · September 24, 2025 to March 19, 2028

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through October 4, 2026