NASA delegates visited the University of Iowa on March 7-8 to learn about the largest externally funded research project in institutional history. The NASA group included Joseph Westlake, the new head of the agency’s heliophysics division, which oversees missions involving the Earth and sun. The heliophysics portfolio includes Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS), the $115 million mission being led by Iowa. TRACERS will study interactions between the sun and the Earth that spawn the Northern and Southern lights. Researchers at Iowa and other participating institutions have been designing, building, and assembling the instruments, hardware, and software in preparation for a scheduled launch in April 2025.

Associate Professor David Miles was named Principal Investigator of the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) Mission following the passing of Prof. Craig Kletzing in August 2023.

Scientists at the University of Iowa have been awarded funding to create a magnetic field instrument small enough to be outfitted on mini satellites that would be launched into space.

It’s been a whirlwind 12 months since Suman Sherwani graduated from Iowa. She’s working on NASA-funded rocket and satellite missions in the UI Department of Physics and Astronomy, and is featured on Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list for science.

David Miles, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, has been awarded $199,999 from NASA to design and build a special mast that can carry magnetic field instruments outfitted for miniature space satellites.

UI Physics and Astronomy Assistant Professor David Miles is developing a new magnetic-field instrument called MAGnetometers for Innovation and Capability (MAGIC). Miles said MAGIC will be a supplement, or an add-on, to the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) mission, which will strive to answer questions regarding space weather.  

A $115 million space mission awarded by NASA to the University of Iowa can now proceed in earnest. Called TRACERS, it will study interactions between the sun’s and Earth’s magnetic fields. NASA also approved an extra $7.6 million for a magnetic field instrument to be designed and built at Iowa, Called MAGnetometers for Innovation and Capability (MAGIC), the instrument is intended to demonstrate that Iowa can reliably manufacture a new magnetic-field instrument that meets NASA’s exacting standards.

Video of the ICI-5 launch taken from the harbor by one of the University of Iowa scientists Suranga Ruhunusiri

Suman Sherwani is well on her way to becoming a rocket scientist. The December graduate is staying at University of Iowa to work as a design engineer on NASA-funded rocket and satellite missions in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

The University of Iowa department of physics and astronomy has received another grant from NASA, now allowing them to launch rockets to measure the interaction between the Earth’s magnetic field and sun particles.