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 at 11:13 a.m. PDT (2:13 p.m. EDT) on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Researchers led by the University of Iowa have learned more about how Earth’s uppermost atmospheric layer may contribute to aurora, the colorful dance of lights in the skies in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

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.

Assistant Research Scientist Scott Bounds is serving as the principal investigator for the Aurora Current and Electrodynamics Structures II (ACES II) mission, which launched rockets from Andøya Space in Norway on Nov. 20, 2022. The NASA-funded project measured the global electric circuit underlying the Northern Lights.

A NASA-funded rocket mission is headed to space to measure the global electric circuit underlying the northern lights. The two Aurora Current and Electrodynamics Structures II experimental rockets were launched on Nov. 20, 2022 at 6:20:00 p.m. and 6:21:40 p.m. from Andøya Space in Norway.

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.