UpbeatTwo satellites, one magnetic explosion: NASA's TRACERS just read space weather's opening move
A year after launch, NASA's twin TRACERS spacecraft have delivered their first results on magnetic reconnection — the explosive moment when the Sun's magnetic field, carried on the solar wind, collides with Earth's magnetic shield and can spark the storms that disrupt satellites and power grids. Analysing the first year's data, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, the team found reconnection is mostly a matter of place, not timing: the action moves through space rather than switching on and off. NASA has extended the mission into spring 2027 to keep watching, several times a day.
The upbeat factortwo small satellites are learning to read the weather that matters most to our technology — the kind that arrives from the Sun.
SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: institutional program
Explore:
Discovery