On July 23, 2025, NASA successfully launched its Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) spacecraft aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.
This mission deploys twin satellites into low-Earth sun‑synchronous orbit at roughly 600 kilometers altitude, flying as close as 10 seconds apart to collect approximately 3,000 measurements over one year. Their goal is to monitor magnetic reconnection events in Earth’s polar cusp region, where solar wind particles penetrate the magnetosphere, impacting space weather and potentially disrupting satellites, GPS, and power systems
Image Credit: SpaceX
