Twin Satellites to Study Earth’s Magnetic Shield, Protecting Life from Solar Storms
NASA’s TRACERS mission blasted off Wednesday at 14:13 EDT from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, aiming to unravel how Earth’s magnetic shield guards against space weather.
The twin Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites will orbit through the polar cusp, capturing 3,000 measurements in a year to study magnetic reconnection, a process where solar and Earth’s magnetic fields collide, triggering explosive particle bursts that impact technology and human safety.
“TRACERS will transform our understanding of space weather,” said David Miles, principal investigator at the University of Iowa.
Three small satellites, Athena EPIC, PExT, and REAL, hitched a ride to test cost-saving designs, network interoperability, and radiation belt dynamics.
his mission strengthens NASA’s heliophysics fleet, safeguarding humanity’s technological future and advancing exploration to the Moon and Mars.
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