Heliophysics

Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX)

In-Situ Probe · Competed · PI-led · Launched on October 19, 2008 · Extended Mission · LCC: $134M/$209M (2025 $)Life-cycle cost: NASA’s reported cost to build, launch, and operate a mission through its prime mission, plus documented partner contributions, in 2025 dollars. Extended missions are not included. Methods · Wikipedia

Scope Active Mission WindowActivePapers published from the first full month after science operations begin through two years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. For IBEX, papers published March 1, 2009 to January 1, 2024. Methods LifetimeLifetimeEvery tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. For IBEX, papers published from 2009 to November 3, 2026. Methods
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed papers we found that name the mission or its instruments in their titles, abstracts, or keywords. Papers that used the data without naming it are missed. Methods373
CitationsCitations: every citation these publications have drawn to date. Older missions have had longer to collect them. Methods14,563
Citation indices
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods62
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods100
m-indexm-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes; the figure shown is as of November 3, 2026. It also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods3.4
toritori (total research impact, from SciX): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Always over every tracked publication to date, whichever scope is chosen. Methods32
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Like tori, always over every tracked publication to date. Methods298

Publications and citations by year (lifetime)

Publications per yearCumulative citations

Institutional contributions (lifetime)The institutions SciX lists for each paper’s authors, as printed on the paper, located through the Research Organization Registry. A square counts a paper once, however many of its authors worked there. Methods

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Tracked publications over the lifetime (373)

All publications CSV · JSON

  1. Global Observations of the Interstellar Interaction from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX)

    McComas, D. J., 2009, Sci

    511 lifetime citations

  2. IBEX—Interstellar Boundary Explorer

    McComas, D. J., 2009, SSRv

    379 lifetime citations

  3. Pick-Up Ions in the Outer Heliosheath: A Possible Mechanism for the Interstellar Boundary EXplorer Ribbon

    Heerikhuisen, J., 2010, ApJ

    251 lifetime citations

  4. The Heliosphere’s Interstellar Interaction: No Bow Shock

    McComas, D. J., 2012, Sci

    251 lifetime citations

  5. Comparison of Interstellar Boundary Explorer Observations with 3D Global Heliospheric Models

    Schwadron, N. A., 2009, Sci

    248 lifetime citations

  6. The Interstellar Boundary Explorer High Energy (IBEX-Hi) Neutral Atom Imager

    Funsten, H. O., 2009, SSRv

    225 lifetime citations

  7. Structures and Spectral Variations of the Outer Heliosphere in IBEX Energetic Neutral Atom Maps

    Funsten, H. O., 2009, Sci

    217 lifetime citations

  8. The IBEX-Lo Sensor

    Fuselier, S. A., 2009, SSRv

    207 lifetime citations

  9. Local Interstellar Magnetic Field Determined from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer Ribbon

    Zirnstein, E. J., 2016, ApJ

    201 lifetime citations

  10. Microstructure of the Heliospheric Termination Shock: Implications for Energetic Neutral Atom Observations

    Zank, G. P., 2010, ApJ

    187 lifetime citations

  11. Width and Variation of the ENA Flux Ribbon Observed by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer

    Fuselier, S. A., 2009, Sci

    176 lifetime citations

  12. Separation of the Interstellar Boundary Explorer Ribbon from Globally Distributed Energetic Neutral Atom Flux

    Schwadron, N. A., 2011, ApJ

    175 lifetime citations

  13. Interstellar Gas Flow Parameters Derived from Interstellar Boundary Explorer-Lo Observations in 2009 and 2010: Analytical Analysis

    Möbius, E., 2012, ApJS

    173 lifetime citations

  14. Heliospheric Structure: The Bow Wave and the Hydrogen Wall

    Zank, G. P., 2013, ApJ

    169 lifetime citations

  15. Neutral Interstellar Helium Parameters Based on IBEX-Lo Observations and Test Particle Calculations

    Bzowski, M., 2012, ApJS

    160 lifetime citations

  16. Local Interstellar Medium: Six Years of Direct Sampling by IBEX

    McComas, D. J., 2015, ApJS

    157 lifetime citations

  17. Three-dimensional Kinetic-MHD Model of the Global Heliosphere with the Heliopause-surface Fitting

    Izmodenov, V. V., 2015, ApJS

    157 lifetime citations

  18. Faltering Steps Into the Galaxy: The Boundary Regions of the Heliosphere

    Zank, G. P., 2015, ARA&A

    142 lifetime citations

  19. Scatter-free Pickup Ions beyond the Heliopause as a Model for the Interstellar Boundary Explorer Ribbon

    Chalov, S. V., 2010, ApJ

    138 lifetime citations

  20. Direct Observations of Interstellar H, He, and O by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer

    Möbius, E., 2009, Sci

    136 lifetime citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Science Explorer (SciX) for peer-reviewed articles naming IBEX in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces.

(((abs:"IBEX-Hi" OR abs:"IBEX-Lo" OR abs:"Interstellar Boundary Explorer" OR (abs:IBEX AND (abs:"energetic neutral atom" OR abs:"electrostatic analyzer" OR abs:(ENA OR ENAs OR heliosphere OR heliospheric OR heliosheath OR heliopause OR interstellar OR ribbon OR "pickup ion" OR "pick-up ion" OR "solar wind" OR magnetosphere OR magnetospheric OR "bow shock" OR lunar OR Moon)))))) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[2009-03 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "ACPD" OR "AIASJ" OR "AMTD" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "BGD" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "CliPD" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "ESDD" OR "ESSDD" OR "ESuDD" OR "GID" OR "GMDD" OR "GeCAS" OR "HESSD" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NHESD" OR "NPGD" OR "NewSc" OR "OcScD" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SOILD" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "TCD" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Added after review (1)

  1. Lunar backscatter and neutralization of the solar wind: First observations of neutral atoms from the Moon First IBEX observations of neutral atoms from the Moon; the mission is credited in the acknowledgements. Decision 🤖

Removed after review (8)

  1. Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP): A New NASA Mission Overview of the IMAP mission; mentions IBEX only as a predecessor. Decision 🤖
  2. The IMAP-Lo Instrument Instrument description of IMAP-Lo; mentions IBEX only as design heritage. Decision 🤖
  3. Science and Mission Operations of the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) Describes IMAP mission operations; mentions IBEX only as a predecessor. Decision 🤖
  4. The Interstellar Mapping And Acceleration Probe High Energy (IMAP-Hi) Neutral Atom Imager Instrument description of IMAP-Hi; mentions IBEX only as design heritage. Decision 🤖
  5. The Low-Energy Neutral Imager (LENI) Concept for a new neutral-atom imager; reports no results and uses no IBEX data. Decision 🤖
  6. The Galactic Environment of the Sun: Interstellar Material Inside and Outside of the Heliosphere Review of the local interstellar medium; mentions IBEX only as a future observer. Decision 🤖
  7. STELLA—Potential European contributions to a NASA-led interstellar probe White paper for a proposed interstellar probe; names IBEX only among past missions. Decision 🤖
  8. Interstellar Mapping And Acceleration Probe: The NASA IMAP Mission Overview of the IMAP mission; mentions IBEX only as heritage. Decision 🤖