TRACER Starts Its Mission to Study the Upper Atmosphere

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): A SpaceX rocket launching the TRACER mission earlier today. (SpaceX)

Earlier today, NASA’s Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACER) twin satellites were successfully launched from Vandenberg Space Force Station in California.

The TRACER mission’s goal is to study magnetic reconnection and its effects in Earth’s atmosphere. Magnetic reconnection is the interplay between solar winds and the Earth’s magnetic field.

The two satellites, each about the size of a washing machine, will be in orbit over both the North and South poles for the next 12 months taking measurements.

In this interview, David Miles, TRACERS Principal Investigator at the University of Iowa, answers a number of questions about the current mission, including:

  • Can you explain what space weather is?
  • Why was this mission designed to have two spacecraft instead of just one?
  • Why is understanding space weather important for protecting our astronauts as well as technology in space and on the ground?

You can learn even more about the mission from this NASA fact sheet.

It is encouraging to see scientific missions underway to better understand outside influences on our upper atmosphere. Let’s hope we can also maintain and expand on space missions that help us understand man-made influences on our atmosphere. Closing our eyes for political reasons is never a good idea.

Space Stories: Watching a Newborn Planet, Investigating a Cosmic Fossil, and TRACERS to Study Magnetic Fields

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Yol Gezer from Pixabay.

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—European Southern Observatory: “Astronomers Witness Newborn Planet Sculpting the Dust Around It“

Astronomers may have caught a still-forming planet in action, carving out an intricate pattern in the gas and dust that surrounds its young host star. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), they observed a planetary disc with prominent spiral arms, finding clear signs of a planet nestled in its inner regions. This is the first time astronomers have detected a planet candidate embedded inside a disc spiral. “We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light-years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time,” says Francesco Maio, a doctoral researcher at the University of Florence, Italy, and lead author of this study, published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

—Space.com: “Astronomers Discover a Cosmic ‘Fossil’ at the Edge of Our Solar System. Is this Bad News for ‘Planet 9’?“

Astronomers have discovered a massive new solar system body located beyond the orbit of Pluto. The weird elongated orbit of the object suggests that if “Planet Nine” exists, it is much further from the sun than thought, or it has been ejected from our planetary system altogether. The strange orbit of the object, designated 2023 KQ14 and nicknamed “Ammonite,” classifies it as a “sednoid.” Sednoids are bodies beyond the orbit of the ice giant Neptune, known as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), characterized by a highly eccentric (non-circular) orbit and a distant closest approach to the sun or “perihelion.”

—Southwest Research Institute: “TRACERS Mission Prepares for Launch“

NASA’s Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) mission, a collaborative effort led by the University of Iowa (UI) with substantial contributions from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), has entered its final integration phase. NASA is set to launch TRACERS’ two satellites into low Earth orbit on July 22, 2025, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The TRACERS mission will explore the dynamic interactions between the Sun’s and Earth’s magnetic fields.

Space Stories: NASA Aircraft Assist with Texas Flood, Chinese Satellites Do Something New, and Venus May be Probed by the UK

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Photorama from Pixabay.

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—NASA “NASA Aircraft, Sensor Technology, Aid in Texas Flood Recovery Efforts“

In response to recent flooding near Kerrville, Texas, NASA deployed two aircraft to assist state and local authorities in ongoing recovery operations. The aircraft are part of the response from NASA’s Disasters Response Coordination System, which is activated to support emergency response for the flooding and is working closely with the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the humanitarian groups Save the Children and GiveDirectly.

—Newsweek: “China Appears to Pull Off Satellite Feat That NASA Has Never Achieved“

Two remote-controlled Chinese satellites appear to have docked in high orbit to allow refueling and servicing for the first time. The achievement, which has yet to be matched by the U.S, involved autonomous spacecraft Shijian-21 and Shijian-25, completing the task in geostationary orbit earlier this month. Geostationary orbits occur at 22,236 miles above the surface, and are typically used for communications satellites so that they can move with the rotation of the Earth. However, the high orbit and need for satellites to maintain speeds with the Earth’s rotation makes docking extremely difficult.

—Royal Astronomical Society: “Life on Venus? UK Probe Could Reveal the Answer“

The answer to whether tiny bacterial lifeforms really do exist in the clouds of Venus could be revealed once-and-for-all by a UK-backed mission. Over the past five years researchers have detected the presence of two potential biomarkers – the gases phosphine and ammonia – which on Earth can only be produced by biological activity and industrial processes. Their existence in the Venusian clouds cannot easily be explained by known atmospheric or geological phenomena, so Cardiff University’s Professor Jane Greaves and her team are plotting a way to get to the bottom of it. Revealing a new mission concept at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting 2025 in Durham, they plan to search and map phosphine, ammonia, and other gases rich in hydrogen that shouldn’t be on Venus.

Space Stories: Mysterious Signal Solved, Trusting AI in Astronomy, and a New Particle Detected on the Moon

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Anjana Daksh from Pixabay.

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Phys.org: “Mysterious Fast Radio Burst Turns Out to be From Long-dead NASA Satellite“

A team of astronomers and astrophysicists affiliated with several institutions in Australia has found that a mysterious fast radio burst (FRB) detected last year originated not from a distant source, but from one circling the planet—a long-dead satellite. The team has posted a paper outlining their findings on the arXiv preprint server…The findings could lead to the development of new tools for studying signals coming from space, whether near or far, and possibly new ways to monitor the movement of dead satellites.

—Futurism: “Nobel Prize Winner Warns About Astronomers Using AI to Make Discoveries“

A team of astronomers say they’ve gleaned the mysterious traits of our galaxy’s black hole by probing it with an AI model. But a pretty big name on the field is throwing a little bit of cold water on their work. Just a little bit. Reinhard Genzel, a Nobel laureate and an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute, expressed some skepticism regarding the team’s use of AI, and the quality of the data they fed into the model. “I’m very sympathetic and interested in what they’re doing,” Genzel told Live Science. “But artificial intelligence is not a miracle cure.”

—Swedish Institute of Space Physics: “Swedish-built Instrument Discovers New Type of Particle on the Lunar Surface“

A space instrument, built by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), has for the first time detected negative hydrogen ions on the surface of the Moon – a type of particle never seen there before. The discovery was recently published in the scientific journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment.

Space Stories: Kuiper Launch, NASA Workforce Cuts, and Prepping for Moon Landing

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Image (Credit): ULA launches the Kuiper 1 mission from Cape Canaveral on April 28, 2025. (ULA)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—ABC News: “Amazon Launches First Kuiper Internet Satellites, Taking on Starlink“

The first 27 satellites for Amazon’s Kuiper broadband internet constellation were launched into space from Florida on Monday, kicking off the long-delayed deployment of an internet-from-space network that will rival SpaceX’s Starlink. The satellites are the first of 3,236 that Amazon plans to send into low-Earth orbit for Project Kuiper, a $10 billion effort unveiled in 2019 to beam broadband internet globally for consumers, businesses and governments – customers that SpaceX has courted for years with its powerful Starlink business.

—Government Executive: “NASA preparing for steep workforce cuts but hopeful it can avoid more layoffs“

As NASA ramps up plans to return to the moon and, eventually, Mars, it is moving forward with plans to shrink its workforce by incentivizing employees to leave government...NASA officials have told employees they may receive a second “deferred resignation” offer to allow staff to take paid leave until they exit government by Sept. 30, as well as early retirement and buyouts, to incentivize departures from the agency. These options were submitted as part of NASA’s reduction-in-force and reorganization plan, employees who attended the meetings in which the plans were shared said, which all agencies had to turn over to the Office of Personnel Management and the White House in recent weeks.

—NASA: “NASA Marshall Fires Up Hybrid Rocket Motor to Prep for Moon Landings“

To better understand the physics behind the interaction of exhaust from the commercial human landing systems and the Moon’s surface, engineers and scientists at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, recently test-fired a 14-inch hybrid rocket motor more than 30 times. The 3D-printed hybrid rocket motor, developed at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, ignites both solid fuel and a stream of gaseous oxygen to create a powerful stream of rocket exhaust.