How does IBEX get into space? Where does IBEX orbit?
IBEX begins its ride to space during a launch from Kwajalein Island, Marshall Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. An L-1011 airplane takes a Pegasus rocket to a high altitude. Then, the Pegasus fires its own rockets to propel it, and the IBEX spacecraft, into space. This is an inexpensive launch option, especially for smaller spacecraft. The satellite has its own small rocket engine that will allow it to climb into an orbit that takes it 5/6 of the distance to the Moon, or around 200,000 miles (325,000 km) away. This orbit is very high, which allows the satellite to spend much of its time outside of the Earth’s magnetosphere, which can interfere with observations. Even though this orbit is high, it is still far from the Solar System boundary that it is measuring. The distance to the edge of the heliosphere is around 9 billion miles (14 billion km) from the Earth, or about 100 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
