A spacecraft the size of a shoebox just launched from Florida with a big mission: to catch some of the fastest, most dangerous particles from the Sun and figure out how they get that way. The satellite, called SNAPPY (Solar Non-thermal Particle Acceleration Payload), lifted off on May 7, 2026, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It is now heading into low Earth orbit to study solar energetic particles, which can disrupt satellites, endanger astronauts, and even knock out power grids on the ground.
A tiny satellite with a giant target
SNAPPY is a CubeSat, a class of small, standardized satellites that cost far less to build and launch than traditional spacecraft. This one is about the size of a cereal box. Inside, it carries a specialized instrument designed to measure electrons and protons that the Sun flings into space during flares and coronal mass ejections. The goal is to observe these particles at the very moment they are accelerated, something larger missions have struggled to do because they are too expensive or too few to position in the right place at the right time.
Why local scientists are watching closely
The mission is led by the University of New Hampshire in the United States, with support from NASA’s Heliophysics Division and the Space Technology Mission Directorate. For researchers in New Hampshire and across the country, SNAPPY represents a shift in how space science gets done. Instead of waiting years for a flagship mission, they can now launch a focused, low cost experiment on a faster timeline. The data SNAPPY collects will help improve space weather forecasts, which matter to anyone who relies on satellites for GPS, communications, or weather monitoring.
What happens next
Once SNAPPY reaches its orbit, it will begin taking measurements of solar particle events as they happen. The spacecraft is expected to operate for at least one year, sending data back to Earth as it passes over ground stations. The information will be compared with observations from other NASA missions to build a clearer picture of how the Sun accelerates particles to nearly the speed of light. For now, the small satellite is a big step toward understanding the most energetic processes in our solar system.
