” TRACERS will be a crucial addition to our heliophysics fleet,” stated Washito Sasamoto, program executive for the mission at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. “The mission is targeting enduring questions vital to comprehending the Sun-Earth system.”
TRACERS is a set of satellites that will study how the solar wind, the continuous stream of ionized particles escaping the Sun and pouring out the area, interacts with Earths magnetosphere, the area around Earth dominated by our worlds magnetic field. The linchpin of that interaction is the phenomenon of magnetic reconnection, an explosive transfer of energy that can occur when two magnetic fields meet.
Magnetic reconnection takes place all throughout area however is of unique relevance where the solar wind initially meets Earths magnetosphere, an area called the magnetopause. A reconnection occasion can shoot solar wind particles, generally diverted around our planet, directly into our environment at high speeds. These particles ignite the stunning northern and southern lights however likewise produce possibly hazardous conditions for astronauts and sensitive satellites.
To study magnetic reconnection at Earths magnetopause, TRACERS will fly through the polar cusp, a point where Earths electromagnetic field dips down towards the ground. There, particles funnel through the cusp into a concentrated part of our environment.
Earth is secured by a giant magnetic bubble known as our magnetosphere. The particles that pass through the cusp bring signatures of the magnetic interactions that happen where the solar wind fulfills our magnetosphere.
” Magnetic reconnection can take place in lots of locations in the magnetopause, however its hard to survey such a huge search area,” Kletzing stated. “The cusp is one place where can study the signatures of reconnection that take place all over.”
TRACERS will repeatedly fly through the northern polar cusp, one satellite behind the other, to study where and how often reconnection occurs at the outer edges of Earths electromagnetic field. These measurements are crucial for understanding and eventually forecasting how energy from our Sun transfers into our world.
TRACERS is led by Craig Kletzing at the University of Iowa and managed by the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. NASAs Heliophysics Explorers Program Office at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland offers objective oversight to the task for the firms Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Illustration of the TRACERS satellites in area. TRACERS will fly through the Earths magnetic cusp to study magnetic interactions between Earth and the solar wind. Credit: NASA
NASAs Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites mission, or TRACERS mission, has passed a crucial objective review on March 31, 2022. The mission now moves into its next stage, advancing towards its target launch preparedness date of July 27, 2024.
” Were delighted to get and pass this significant milestone one action closer to launch,” stated Prof. Craig Kletzing, area physicist at the University of Iowa in Iowa City and the missions principal detective.
The review, Key Decision Point C, examined the missions initial style and program plan to attain launch by its target launch preparedness. With the successful evaluation, TRACERS now moves into Phase C, which consists of the last style of the objective and structure of the two satellites.
TRACERS will fly through the Earths magnetic cusp to study magnetic interactions in between Earth and the solar wind. Magnetic reconnection occurs all throughout space however is of special relevance where the solar wind first satisfies Earths magnetosphere, an area understood as the magnetopause. Earth is protected by a giant magnetic bubble understood as our magnetosphere. The particles that pass through the cusp bring signatures of the magnetic interactions that happen where the solar wind satisfies our magnetosphere.