After eight years of preparation, a University of Iowa-led NASA mission is poised to launch Tuesday, July 22, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites mission — or TRACERS — will send two satellites into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to study the interactions between the magnetic fields of the sun and Earth, aiming to answer long-standing questions about space weather — specifically how the sun transfers energy, mass, and momentum into near-Earth space.
The satellites, flying in tandem 10 to 120 seconds apart, will orbit Earth’s poles thousands of times over the course of the estimated one-year mission before reentering the atmosphere and burning up, a release stated.
The mission is led by David Miles, F. Wendell Miller Associate Professor in the UI Department of Physics and Astronomy, and marks the largest externally funded research project in university history, totaling $165.7 million.
The launch window opens at 1:13 p.m. (CT) Tuesday. To celebrate the occasion, the UI Department of Physics and Astronomy will host a public watch event from noon to 3 p.m. in Lecture Room 1 of Van Allen Hall.
According to the release, two of the mission’s instruments were designed and built entirely at the university. Three others — developed by the UCLA; University of California, Berkeley; and the Southwest Research Institute — were shipped to Iowa to undergo testing by the TRACERS team.
NASA first funded the TRACERS concept in October 2017 after it was proposed by renowned UI space physicist Craig Kletzing, who led the mission until his death in August 2023.
