Particle.news
Download on the App Store
3 ARTICLES
·
last mo.

NASA Begins Commissioning TRACERS Satellites After Falcon 9 Launch

Now in low Earth orbit, the twin satellites are in a four-week commissioning phase ahead of a yearlong effort to map how solar wind energy enters near-Earth space.

SwRI developed the Analyzer for Cusp Ions instrument for NASA’s Tracers mission. The institute is managing the mission to study the c The mission’s twin satellites flew to space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on July 23.
An artist’s depiction of one of NASA’s Tracers. Southwest Research Institute is managing the mission to study effects of space weather on the Earth’s protective magnetic shield. The mission’s twin satellites flew to space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on July 23.
NASA’s Tracers mission launches at 11:13 a.m. PDT Wednesday atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The satellites will study magnetic reconnections around Earth — a process in which electrically charged plasmas exchange energy in the atmosphere — to understand how the Sun’s solar wind interacts with the magnetosphere, Earth’s protective magnetic shield.

Overview

  • A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on July 23 carrying the twin TRACERS spacecraft, which separated and established ground contact three hours later.
  • During commissioning, teams will activate and calibrate instruments including Southwest Research Institute’s Analyzer for Cusp Ions to prepare for full science operations.
  • Once operational, the satellites will orbit about 360 miles above Earth and conduct over 3,000 cusp-crossing measurements of magnetic reconnection events.
  • TRACERS data will refine models of solar wind–magnetosphere coupling and enhance space weather forecasts to protect satellites, power grids and communication systems.
  • The mission is a collaboration among NASA, SWRI, the University of Iowa and Millennium Space Systems and also deployed three secondary CubeSats and five commercial satellites.