NASA’s new TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission will study magnetic reconnection, answering key questions about how it shapes the impacts of the Sun and space weather on our daily lives.

With the TRACERS launch imminent, take a trip through the timeline of the university’s largest externally funded research project, which will examine the powerful interactions between the magnetic fields of the sun and Earth.

A University of Iowa engineering student built a replica of the TRACERS satellite that will study the magnetic fields of the sun and Earth.

The journal Space Science Reviews is publishing a collection of articles about the University of Iowa-led Tandem Reconnection And Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) mission. This collection presents the science objectives of the mission, descriptions of the design and calibration of the plasma instruments, and other important aspects of the mission.

Prof. Gregory Howes is the new Departmental Executive Officer (DEO) of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, effective July 1, 2025.