A trio of space weather satellites lifted off Wednesday morning, beginning a coordinated effort to peer more closely at the sun’s most violent activity and to sharpen early warning systems for sudden solar storms. The launch, announced by NASA, brings new instruments into a crowded but aging fleet of heliophysics observatories with a clear operational aim: better protect astronauts, satellites and terrestrial infrastructure from bursts of charged particles and electromagnetic disruption.

Solar eruptions such as flares and coronal mass ejections can hurl energetic particles and magnetic clouds into space, sometimes reaching Earth and producing dazzling auroras while disrupting radio communications, navigation systems and power grids. They also pose a direct radiation risk to astronauts outside Earth’s protective magnetosphere — a concern that has grown as NASA prepares crewed missions under its Artemis program to orbit and return to the moon.

“These newer missions offer more advanced instruments that will provide more sensitive measurements,” said Nicky Fox, NASA’s science mission chief. Officials highlighted one of the launched spacecraft, the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, or IMAP, as having the capability to provide an approximately 30-minute heads-up for incoming solar storms, a window that could be critical for crews and ground operators balancing safety and mission continuity.

The new satellites carry instruments designed to measure charged particles, magnetic fields and the structure of the solar wind, and to image the solar corona where eruptions originate. By improving the fidelity and cadence of those observations, mission scientists expect to refine models that estimate the arrival time and severity of geomagnetic disturbances. That matters both for astronauts who may need to seek shelter in shielded parts of a spacecraft and for operators who may temporarily power down or reorient satellites to reduce damage.

NASA already operates a stable of sunwatching missions, including the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the Parker Solar Probe and the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter, among others. But agency officials and researchers argue that overlapping perspectives from additional platforms, equipped with updated detectors and higher sensitivity, will strengthen forecasting systems that have long struggled with limited lead times and large uncertainties.

Improved warnings could help protect terrestrial systems, too. Grid operators can take measures to reduce risk to transformers, airlines can alter polar routes to maintain communication, and satellite operators can switch to safe modes during intense particle storms. Yet experts caution that a 30-minute notice, while valuable, is not a panacea. Forecasting the precise onset and impact of complex solar events will continue to rely on better physical models and more comprehensive observations.

The launch marks another step in a broader push to harden human and technological activity against space weather. As humanity pushes farther from Earth, the ability to anticipate the sun’s temper will become less an academic pursuit and more a matter of safety and resilience for people and systems both in orbit and on the ground.