NASA’s twin TRACERS satellites launched on July 23 aboard a Falcon 9 to check magnetic reconnection and the way photo voltaic exercise impacts near-Earth house.
NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission launches at 11:13 a.m. PDT (2:13 p.m. EDT) on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Area Launch Complicated 4 East at Vandenberg Area Power Base in California. Credit score: NASA
- The TRACERS mission, comprised of two twin satellites launched by way of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, has commenced its operational section following profitable deployment and preliminary contact with floor controllers.
- TRACERS will conduct roughly 3,000 measurements over the subsequent yr, specializing in magnetic reconnection occasions inside Earth’s polar cusp to raised perceive power switch from the photo voltaic wind to near-Earth house.
- The mission’s major goal is to boost scientific understanding of house climate phenomena and their affect on satellite tv for pc operations and communication methods.
- TRACERS will collaborate with different NASA missions, together with MMS, PUNCH, and EZIE, and likewise carried three secondary payloads: Athena EPIC, PExT, and REAL, every with impartial scientific targets.
NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission is formally underway following a successful launch Wednesday at 2:13 p.m. EDT. The dual satellites rode a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Area Power Base in California.
Floor controllers confirmed contact with each satellites three hours after separation, marking the start of a four-week commissioning interval. As soon as totally operational, TRACERS’ observations will assist scientists higher perceive how house climate occasions can have an effect on satellites and communications.
The 2 satellites will orbit in shut formation, following one another simply 10 seconds aside as they fly by the polar cusp — an open area in Earth’s magnetic area close to the North Pole the place power and particles from the photo voltaic wind enter into close to‑Earth house.
Over the subsequent yr, TRACERS will take about 3,000 measurements to check magnetic reconnection — the snapping and explosive realigning of magnetic area traces that releases power. By constructing a “time‑lapse” of those occasions the place the Solar’s magnetic area connects to Earth’s, scientists hope to trace how bursts of photo voltaic power transfer into close to‑Earth house. “TRACERS is about to rework our understanding of Earth’s magnetosphere,” mentioned principal investigator David Miles of the College of Iowa.
Appearing NASA Administrator Sean Duffy known as the launch “an illustration of American preeminence in house science analysis,” noting the mission’s relevance to each house climate forecasting and future exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Duffy was the addressee of a letter of dissent printed earlier this week and signed by practically 300 present and former NASA workers involved about finances cuts and security tradition.
The dual spacecraft will work in live performance with different NASA missions, together with MMS and the just lately launched PUNCH and EZIE satellites, to construct a extra full image of photo voltaic wind interactions with our planet.
Three secondary payloads additionally accompanied the mission: Athena EPIC, a small satellite tv for pc testing a versatile industrial bus; PExT, a communications experiment bridging industrial and authorities networks; and REAL, a CubeSat investigating how energetic electrons escape the Van Allen radiation belts.
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