NASA PUNCH test predicts solar storm Earth arrival within 30 minutes

Using continuous imagery from NASA's PUNCH mission, scientists predicted the near-Earth arrival of a solar eruption to within 30 minutes in an initial proof-of-concept test, phys.org reported in a NASA-authored writeup. Results were presented at the Committee on Space Research Scientific Meeting and are under review at the journal Space Weather. PUNCH uses four spacecraft in low Earth orbit for continuous 3D observations of the inner solar system. Before PUNCH, coronal mass ejections could be tracked for only about one-fifth of the sun-to-Earth path; PUNCH captures a new image every four minutes nearly all the way to Earth. Researchers retroactively tested a May 31, 2025 coronal mass ejection. Twelve hours after the eruption left the sun, a model settled on a prediction that the storm would arrive eight hours later, accurate to within a half-hour. Southwest Research Institute principal investigator Craig DeForest said the team thought PUNCH would help but called the result stunning for space-weather forecasting aimed at power grids, satellites, and astronauts.