SWFO-L1, on board a transport truck, departs Boulder, CO to start its journey to Astrotech Space Operations in Florida. Image Credit: BAE Space & Mission Systems
NOAA’s Space Weather Follow On - Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) observatory, the first NOAA satellite fully dedicated to continuous, operational space weather observations, has arrived in Florida in preparation for its Fall 2025 launch.
On Sunday evening, July 20, SWFO-L1 arrived at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Titusville, Florida. Over the coming weeks, it will undergo final testing and preparations in anticipation of its launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. After launch, it will complete a four-month long journey through space to Lagrange point 1, approximately one million miles away from Earth.
In service to its mission, SWFO-L1 will keep a watchful eye on the sun and near-Earth environment for space weather. It will accomplish this by using a special solar telescope to monitor the sun's activity, in addition to a suite of instruments that will make real-time measurements of the solar wind. As an operational observatory, SWFO-L1 will deliver real-time data to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), enabling faster and more accurate forecasts, watches, and warnings. This critical information helps protect the nation's power grid, communication, and navigation systems, and supports the safety of astronauts and space-based infrastructure.
A product of collaboration between government agencies, private industry, and academic institutions, SWFO-L1 began its journey in Boulder, Colorado on Friday, July 18, where BAE Systems assembled the observatory. Weighing over 300 kilograms or 670 pounds, the spacecraft traveled by truck across the United States to reach the Astrotech launch facility.
NOAA and NASA have important and complementary responsibilities in the development, testing, launch, and operation of SWFO-L1. NOAA is the program owner, provides funds and manages the program, operations and data products and dissemination to users. On behalf of NOAA, NASA and commercial partners develop, build, and test the instruments and spacecraft as well as launch the satellites. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy in Florida, is responsible for managing the launch service.
SWFO-L1 will fly as a secondary rideshare on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) and NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, launching no earlier than September 2025. Together, these spacecraft will expand and enhance the field of space weather and how our sun shapes and changes near-Earth space. Stay up to date about mission developments and tune in for the launch broadcast, by visiting the SWFO-L1 Launch webpage.