TRACERS

Overview

Destination: Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Mission: Heliophysics

Sun-Synchronous Orbit Space Launch Complex 4E Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Unknown F9 - Landing Zone 4

NASA's Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) mission, consisting of two identical satellites that will orbit Earth in tandem (one following the other), will help understand magnetic re-connection and its effects in Earth’s atmosphere. Magnetic re-connection occurs when activity from the Sun interacts with Earth’s magnetic field. By understanding this process, scientists will be able to better understand and prepare for impacts of solar activity on Earth. Hitchhiking small satellites: * Athena EPIC (Economical Payload Integration Cost) * Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PExT) * Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss (REAL)

Telemetry

Launch trajectory and telemetry simulations provided by Flight Club - a rocket launch simulator and orbital trajectory visualiser for all things space!

Updates



Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 31, 2025, 3 a.m.

Added launch (previously thought to be launching on a Transporter mission but appears to be now flying separately as primary payload of its ride-share - see https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=62129.0).


Cosmic_Penguin • July 14, 2025, 10:48 p.m.

NET July 22.


Cosmic_Penguin • April 2, 2025, 3:49 p.m.

Changed launch site.


Falcon 9

Family:
Configuration: Block 5

Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.

See Details
Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    1
  • Max Stage
    2
  • Length
    70.0 m
  • Diameter
    3.65 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    5.2 m
  • Launch Mass
    549.0 T
  • Thrust
    7607.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Falcon 9
  • Family
  • Variant
    Block 5
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Falcon 9 Block 5
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $52000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    22800.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    8300.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Booster Info


Unknown F9


Type: Core
Flight Proven: No

Landing Information

The Falcon 9 booster will attempt to return to the launch site at LZ-4 after its flight.

Landing Attempt Confirmed

SpaceX

SpaceX

(SpX)

CEO: Elon Musk Founded: 2002 Successes: 525 Failures: 15 Pending: 119

Agency Type:

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.

INFO WIKI

Related News

NASA

NASA to Brief Media on New Mission to Study Earth’s Magnetic Shield

NASA will hold a media teleconference at 11 a.m. EDT on Thursday, July 17, to share information about the agency’s upcoming Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, or TRACERS, mission, which is targeted to l…

NASA

NASA’s TRACERS Studies Explosive Process in Earth’s Magnetic Shield

High above us, particles from the Sun hurtle toward Earth, colliding with the upper atmosphere and creating powerful explosions in a murky process called magnetic reconnection. A single magnetic reconnection event can release as much energ…

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