Dozens of scientists from the University of Iowa traveled to Lompoc, California, to joyfully witness the successful rocket launch associated with TRACERS — the NASA-funded mission to study the mysterious, powerful interactions between the magnetic fields of the sun and Earth.

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 July 23 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Wednesday, July 23 marked the reward of years of work for University of Iowa researchers as their twin satellites launched into space. The University held a watch party for its contributors and the public to see SpaceX launch the TRACERS satellites. Dozens of university students, professors, and researchers had a hand in building TRACERS, one of the largest research projects in university history.

The UI Department of Physics and Astronomy is inviting you to join us for a live viewing event celebrating the launch of NASA’s TRACERS mission. The live viewing event has been postponed until Wednesday, July 23 in Lecture Room One, Van Allen Hall, from 12 to 3 p.m.

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.

The TRACERS mission, led in part by University of Iowa researchers, will use twin satellites to study how magnetic reconnection drives dynamic processes in Earth’s cusp region, advancing our understanding of space weather and magnetospheric physics.