NASA’s TRACERS Launches Mission to Study Earth’s Magnetic Field
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NASA’s TRACERS Launches Mission to Study Earth’s Magnetic Field
The TRACERS satellites were launched Wednesday. They are part of a larger mission to study the Earth’s magnetic field. The mission is expected to last about a year and a half, depending on how well it works. The satellites will be connected to the ground via a high-tech cable. They will be able to communicate with each other via radio.
NASA’s newest mission, TRACERS, soon will begin studying how Earth’s magnetic shield protects our planet from the effects of space weather. Short for Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, the twin TRACERS spacecraft lifted off at 11:13 a.m. PDT (2:13 p.m. EDT) Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Riding along with TRACERS aboard the Falcon 9 were NASA’s Athena EPIC (Economical Payload Integration Cost), PExT (Polylingual Experimental Terminal), and REAL (Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss) missions – three small satellites to demonstrate new technologies and gather scientific data. These three missions were successfully deployed, and mission controllers will work to contact them over the coming hours and days.
Ground controllers for the TRACERS mission established communications with the second of the two spacecraft at 3:43 p.m. PDT (6:43 p.m. EDT), about 3 hours after it separated from the rocket. During the next four weeks, TRACERS will undergo a commissioning period during which mission controllers will check out their instruments and systems.
Once cleared, the twin satellites will begin their 12-month prime mission to study a process called magnetic reconnection, answering key questions about how it shapes the impacts of the Sun and space weather on our daily lives.
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This concludes NASA’s coverage of launch.
TRACERS Mission: Know all about the Twin Satellites Launched by NASA on 23rd July 2025
The TRACERS mission has been officially launched by NASA on 23rd July, 2025. It is a twin satellite mission designed to understand the impact of magnetic reconnection. The satellites were launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The satellites were launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, at 11:13 am EDT on 23rd July.
What does TRACERS stand for?
TRACERS, which stands for Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, are a set of twin satellites that will study magnetic reconnection and its effects on Earth’s atmosphere.
NASA states that “Once in orbit, the TRACERS satellites will study how the solar wind – a continuous flow of electrically charged particles from the sun – interacts with the Earth’s magnetosphere, the magnetic field that protects the planet from the brunt of solar radiation.”