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Watch live: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches NASA's TRACERS mission from Vandenberg, California

Watch live coverage as SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket with seven satellites on this rideshare mission. Principal among them are the twin satellites comprising NASA's TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection an...

TRACERS Mission

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SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.

The University of Iowa

TRACERS is a satellite mission led by the University of Iowa, funded by NASA, to study the mysterious, powerful interactions between the magnetic fields of the Sun and Earth. This mission will help us better understand space weather and its impact on our planet. TRACERS is funded as a Small

TRACERS

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Overview

Destination: Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Mission: Heliophysics

Sun-Synchronous Orbit Space Launch Complex 4E Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA Probability: 99%
B1081 - 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
  • Stages
    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


B1081

Status: Active


Type: Core
Flight Proven: Yes
First Flight: August 26, 2023
Last Flight: May 6, 2026
Flights: 24
Landings Attempted: 24
Landings Successful: 24
Previous B1081 Flights

Landing Information

The Falcon 9 booster B1081 has returned to the launch site at LZ-4 after its 16th flight.

Result: Successful Return to Launch Site landing at Landing Zone 4.

SpaceX

SpaceX

(SpX)

CEO: Elon Musk Founded: 2002 Successes: 668 Failures: 15 Pending: 124

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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NASASpaceflight

FAA caused Falcon 9 TRACERS launch scrub

The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has noted that it scrubbed a SpaceX launch at the… The post FAA caused Falcon 9 TRACERS launch scrub appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

Spaceflight Now

Live coverage: SpaceX to launch NASA’s TRACERS satellites on rideshare Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg SFB

A total of seven spacecraft will be deployed beginning about 1.5 hours after liftoff. SpaceX is aiming to launch the mission from pad 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 11:13 a.m. PDT (2:13 p.m. EDT, 1813 UTC).

Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Space Launch Complex 4E


Long March 2D
Success
3 days, 7 hours ago
4 x SatNet test satellites
Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Officially described as "Satellite-Internet Technology Demonstration Satellites". Probably 4 test satellites for the Chinese state-owned LEO commu…


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 10 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-41
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Atlas V 551
Success
4 days, 1 hour ago
Amazon Leo (LA-07)
Space Launch Complex 41 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, thi…


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 12 hours ago
Starlink Group 10-53
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 7A
Success
1 week ago
TJSW-24
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Starlink Group 17-37
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Starlink Group 10-47
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 2F/G
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Shenzhou 23
Launch Area 91 (SLS-1 / 921) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Shenzhou 23 will be the 23rd flight of the Shenzhou program.


Starship
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
Flight 12
Orbital Launch Pad 2 - SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA

12th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Maiden Flight of Starship V3. The flight test’s primary goal will be to demonstrate eac…


Electron
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1 week, 4 days ago
Viva La StriX (StriX Launch 9)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.