$2,126,044,005

Department of Energy·Department of Energy

to THE TRUSTEES OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

energyactive

ACTION DATE—·SOURCEUSASPENDING·SOURCE IDCONT_AWD_DEAC0209CH11466_8900_-NONE-_-NONE-

Award description

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATING CONTRACT FOR THE OPERATION OF THE PRINCETON PLASMA PHYSICS LABORATORY (PPPL)

Verbatim from USAspending.gov. Capitalization, abbreviations, and codes are unchanged.

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What the model surfaced from this award

Confidence: high

In plain English

Funds management and operation of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, a major U.S. fusion energy research facility.

Sub-sectors

fusion-researchplasma-physicsscientific-infrastructure

Why this matters

PPPL is critical to advancing fusion energy technology and maintaining U.S. leadership in next-generation clean energy research.

Supply-chain signal

Sustains demand for specialized scientific equipment, diagnostics, and high-tech components required for plasma physics experiments.

U.S.–China competition angle

Fusion energy is a strategic priority for both U.S. and China; this investment supports American competitiveness in fusion technology development.

Generated by award_classification v1.0.0 via claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 on 2026-05-13. Cost: $0.001350.

Period of performance

Start

2009-01-31

End

2027-03-31

Status

activein 321 days

Recipient

THE TRUSTEES OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

UEI NJ1YPQXQG7U5

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—INTERSTELLAR MAPPING AND ACCELERATION PROBE (IMAP) IS A WATERSHED MISSION THAT SIMULTANEOUSLY INVESTIGATES THE ACCELERATION OF ENERGETIC PARTICLES AND INTERACTION OF THE SOLAR WIND WITH THE LOCAL INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM. IMAP WILL 1) ADVANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL EVOLUTION OF THE BOUNDARY REGION IN WHICH THE SOLAR WIND AND INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM INTERACT, 2) IDENTIFY AND ADVANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF PROCESSES RELATED TO THE INTERACTIONS OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD OF THE SUN AND THE LOCAL INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM, 3) IMPROVE THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE COMPOSITION AND PROPERTIES OF THE LOCAL INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM, AND 4) IDENTIFY AND ADVANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF PARTICLE INJECTION AND ACCELERATION PROCESSES NEAR THE SUN, IN THE HELIOSPHERE AND HELIOSHEATH. IMAP IS BASED ON A COMPLETE AND SYNERGISTIC SET OF OBSERVATIONS. IN SITU AT 1AU, THIS REQUIRES DETAILED OBSERVATIONS OF THE SOLAR WIND ELECTRONS AND IONS SUPRATHERMAL, PICKUP, AND ENERGETIC ION POPULATIONS AND MAGNETIC FIELD. FOR THE OUTER HELIOSPHERE INTERACTION, IT REQUIRES ADVANCED GLOBAL OBSERVATIONS OF THE REMOTE PLASMA AND ENERGETIC IONS OVER A BROAD ENERGY RANGE VIA ENERGETIC NEUTRAL ATOM (ENA) IMAGING, AS WELL AS PRECISE OBSERVATION OF THE NEUTRAL INTERSTELLAR ATOMS PENETRATING THE HELIOSPHERE. COMPLEMENTARY OBSERVATIONS OF INTERSTELLAR DUST AND THE UV GLOW OF INTERSTELLAR NEUTRALS, WHILE NOT REQUIRED FOR THE THRESHOLD MISSION, ADD IMPORTANT CONTEXT AND INSIGHTS TO DEEPEN PHYSICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE BASELINE MISSION. THESE OBSERVATIONAL NEEDS WILL REQUIRE AN INTEGRATED AND COORDINATED SUITE OF 10 INSTRUMENTS THAT SPAN BOTH THE IN SITU AND REMOTE IMAGING ASPECTS OF THE INVESTIGATION. AS THE PI INSTITUTION PRINCETON UNIVERSITY OVERSEES THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAP TO ENSURE COST, RISK, AND SCIENCE OBJECTIVES ARE MET IN THE CONTEXT OF AN OVERALL PLAN TO DEVELOP, INTEGRATE, TEST, LAUNCH, COMMISSION, AND OPERATE THE IMAP MISSION. PRINCETON WILL DEVELOP THE SOLAR WIND AND PICKUP ION (SWAPI) INSTRUMENT, MANAGE THE MISSION SCIENCE TEAM, DEVELOP THE INTERSTELLAR DUST EXPERIMENT (IDEX) INSTRUMENT DATA PIPELINE, INITIATE THE FUTURE LEADERS PROGRAM, AND OVERSEE THE MISSION STUDENT COLLABORATION.$50.6M

Sources

USAspending.gov — all awards for this UEI →
SAM.gov entity registration →
Award record ingested from usaspending. Source identifier CONT_AWD_DEAC0209CH11466_8900_-NONE-_-NONE-.

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