https://phys.org/news/2018-06-nasa-mission-solar-boundary-outer.html

"This boundary is where our Sun does a great deal to protect us. IMAP is critical to broadening our understanding of how this 'cosmic filter' works," said Dennis Andrucyk, deputy associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The implications of this research could reach well beyond the consideration of Earthly impacts as we look to send humans into deep space."

Another objective of the mission is to learn more about the generation of cosmic rays in the heliosphere. Cosmic rays created locally and from the galaxy and beyond affect human explorers in space and can harm technological systems, and likely play a role in the presence of life itself in the universe.