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By Space Force
Vandenberg Space Force Base hosted a mission brief for NASA’s upcoming Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites mission.
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By NASA
The TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission will help scientists understand an explosive process called magnetic reconnection and its effects in Earth’s atmosphere. Credit: University of Iowa/Andy Kale 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 launch no earlier than late July.
The TRACERS mission is a pair of twin satellites that will study how Earth’s magnetic shield — the magnetosphere — protects our planet from the supersonic stream of material from the Sun called solar wind. As they fly pole to pole in a Sun-synchronous orbit, the two TRACERS spacecraft will measure how magnetic explosions send these solar wind particles zooming down into Earth’s atmosphere — and how these explosions shape the space weather that impacts our satellites, technology, and astronauts.
Also launching on this flight will be three additional NASA-funded payloads. The Athena EPIC (Economical Payload Integration Cost) SmallSat, led by NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is designed to demonstrate an innovative, configurable way to put remote-sensing instruments into orbit faster and more affordably. The Polylingual Experimental Terminal technology demonstration, managed by the agency’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program, will showcase new technology that empowers missions to roam between communications networks in space, like cell phones roam between providers on Earth. Finally, the Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss (REAL) CubeSat, led by Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, will use space as a laboratory to understand how high-energy particles within the bands of radiation that surround Earth are naturally scattered into the atmosphere, aiding the development of methods for removing these damaging particles to better protect satellites and the critical ground systems they support.
Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website at:
nasa.gov/live
Participants include:
Joe Westlake, division director, Heliophysics, NASA Headquarters Kory Priestley, principal investigator, Athena EPIC, NASA Langley Greg Heckler, deputy program manager for capability development, SCaN, NASA Headquarters David Miles, principal investigator for TRACERS, University of Iowa Robyn Millan, REAL principal investigator, Dartmouth College To participate in the media teleconference, media must RSVP no later than 10 a.m. on July 17 to Sarah Frazier at: sarah.frazier@nasa.gov. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.
The TRACERS mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
This mission is led by David Miles at the University of Iowa with support from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. NASA’s Heliophysics Explorers Program Office at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the mission for the agency’s HeliophysicsDivision at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The University of Iowa, Southwest Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, and University of California, Berkeley, all lead instruments on TRACERS that will study changes in the Earth’s magnetic field and electric field. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, manages the Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare contract.
To learn more about TRACERS, please visit:
nasa.gov/tracers
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Abbey Interrante / Karen Fox
Headquarters, Washington
301-201-0124 / 202-358-1600
abbey.a.interrante@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov
Sarah Frazier
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
202-853-7191
sarah.frazier@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 10, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Earth Heliophysics Science Mission Directorate Solar Wind TRACERS View the full article
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
What happens when the universe’s most magnetic object shines with the power of 1000 Suns in a matter of seconds? Thanks to NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), a mission in collaboration with ASI (Italian Space Agency), scientists are one step closer to understanding this extreme event.
Magnetars are a type of young neutron star – a stellar remnant formed when a massive star reaches the end of its life and collapses in on itself, leaving behind a dense core roughly the mass of the Sun, but squashed down to the size of a city. Neutron stars display some of the most extreme physics in the observable universe and present unique opportunities to study conditions that would otherwise be impossible to replicate in a laboratory on Earth.
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Illustrated magnetar flyby sequence showing magnetic field lines. A magnetar is a type of isolated neutron star, the crushed, city-size remains of a star many times more massive than our Sun. Their magnetic fields can be 10 trillion times stronger than a refrigerator magnet's and up to a thousand times stronger than a typical neutron star's. This represents an enormous storehouse of energy that astronomers suspect powers magnetar outbursts.NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA) The magnetar 1E 1841-045, located in the remnants of a supernova (SNR Kes 73) nearly 28,000 light-years from Earth, was observed to be in a state of outburst by NASA’s Swift, Fermi, and NICER telescopes on August 21, 2024.
A few times a year, the IXPE team approves requests to interrupt the telescope’s scheduled observations to instead focus on unique and unexpected celestial events. When magnetar 1E 1841-045 entered this brighter, active state, scientists decided to redirect IXPE to obtain the first-ever polarization measurements of a flaring magnetar.
Magnetars have magnetic fields several thousand times stronger than most neutron stars and host the strongest magnetic fields of any known object in the universe. Disturbances to their extreme magnetic fields can cause a magnetar to release up to a thousand times more X-ray energy than it normally would for several weeks. This enhanced state is called an outburst, but the mechanisms behind them are still not well understood.
Through IXPE’s X-ray polarization measurements, scientists may be able to get closer to uncovering the mysteries of these events. Polarization carries information about the orientation and alignment of the emitted X-ray light waves; the higher the degree of polarization, the more the X-ray waves are traveling in sync, akin to a tightly choreographed dance performance. Examining the polarization characteristics of magnetars reveals clues about the energetic processes producing the observed photons as well as the direction and geometry of the magnetar magnetic fields.
The IXPE results, aided by observations from NASA’s NuSTAR and NICER telescopes, show that the X-ray emissions from 1E 1841-045 become more polarized at higher energy levels while still maintaining the same direction of propagation. A significant contribution to this high polarization degree comes from the hard X-ray tail of 1E 1841-045, an energetic magnetospheric component dominating the highest photon energies observed by IXPE. “Hard X-rays” refer to X-rays with shorter wavelengths and higher energies than “soft X-rays.” Although prevalent in magnetars, the mechanics driving the production of these high energy X-ray photons are still largely unknown. Several theories have been proposed to explain this emission, but now the high polarization associated with these hard X-rays provide further clues into their origin.
This illustration depicts IXPE’s measurements of X-ray polarization emitting from magnetar 1E 1841-045 located within the Supernova Remnant Kes 73. At the time of observation, the magnetar was in a state of outburst and emitting the luminosity equivalent to 1000 suns. By studying the X-ray polarization of magnetars experiencing an outburst scientists may be able to get closer to uncovering the mysteries of these events. Michela Rigoselli/Italian National Institute of Astrophysics The results are presented in two papers published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, one led by Rachael Stewart, a PhD student at George Washington University, and the other by Michela Rigoselli of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics..
“This unique observation will help advance the existing models aiming to explain magnetar hard X-ray emission by requiring them to account for this very high level of synchronization we see among these hard X-ray photons,” said Stewart. “This really showcases the power of polarization measurements in constraining physics in the extreme environments of magnetars.”
Rigoselli, lead author of the companion paper, added, “It will be interesting to observe 1E 1841-045 once it has returned to its quiescent, baseline state to follow the evolution of its polarimetric properties.”
IXPE is a space observatory built to discover the secrets of some of the most extreme objects in the universe. Launched in December 2021 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on a Falcon 9 rocket, the IXPE mission is part of NASA’s Small Explorer series.
IXPE, which continues to provide unprecedented data enabling groundbreaking discoveries about celestial objects across the universe, is a joint NASA and Italian Space Agency mission with partners and science collaborators in 12 countries. IXPE is led by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. BAE Systems, headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, manages spacecraft operations together with the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder.
Learn more about IXPE’s ongoing mission here:
https://www.nasa.gov/ixpe
Media Contact
Elizabeth Landau
NASA Headquarters
elizabeth.r.landau@nasa.gov
202-358-0845
Lane Figueroa
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
256.544.0034
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Beth Ridgeway
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Last Updated Jun 05, 2025 EditorBeth RidgewayContactLane FigueroaElizabeth R. Landauelizabeth.r.landau@nasa.govLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Marshall Astrophysics Marshall Science Research & Projects Marshall Space Flight Center The Universe Explore More
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By NASA
Jason Dworkin, project scientist for OSIRIS-REx at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, views a portion of the asteroid Bennu sample in the center’s astrobiology lab under microscope in November 2023, shortly after it arrived from the curation team at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.Credit: NASA/Molly Wasser NASA will brief media at 11 a.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 29, to provide an update on science results from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) mission, which delivered a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth in September 2023.
Audio of the media call will stream live on the agency’s website.
Participants in the teleconference include:
Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington Danny Glavin, senior scientist for sample return, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist, NASA Goddard Tim McCoy, curator of meteorites, Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Washington Sara Russell, cosmic mineralogist, Natural History Museum, London Media interested in participating by phone must RSVP no later than two hours prior to the start of the call to: molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is online.
After the teleconference, NASA Goddard will host a limited onsite media availability for reporters local to the greater Washington area. The availability will include opportunities to tour the center’s astrobiology lab, which contributed to the study of the Bennu sample. Interested reporters should request participation by Sunday, Jan. 26, to: rob.garner@nasa.gov.
Launched on Sept. 8, 2016, OSIRIS-REx was the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid in space. The spacecraft traveled to near-Earth asteroid Bennu and collected a sample of rocks and dust from the surface in 2020. It delivered the sample to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.
To learn more about OSIRIS-REx, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/osiris-rex/
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Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jan 24, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) Asteroids Bennu Goddard Space Flight Center Johnson Space Center Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) Planetary Science Division Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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By NASA
A person watches the annular solar eclipse of October 14, 2023, in Kerrville, Texas.Credits: NASA Millions of people across North America will experience a rare celestial sight on Monday, April 8: a total solar eclipse. NASA will host a media briefing with other government agencies at 10 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, March 26, at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
The briefing will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.
Over the course of about an hour, viewers in 15 states across the United States will experience up to four and half minutes of darkness when the Moon moves fully in front of the Sun, revealing the Sun’s faint outer atmosphere: the corona. Outside of the path of totality, people in the contiguous United States will have the opportunity to see a partial eclipse, when the Moon covers only a portion of the Sun. Learn how to safely view this celestial event on NASA’s eclipse website.
NASA is joining with scientific and transportation agencies to engage the public, share safety information, and conduct science during the upcoming total solar eclipse. Representatives from these agencies will brief media about plans for the solar eclipse.
Briefing participants include:
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free Kelly Korreck, eclipse program manager, NASA Headquarters Shailen Bhatt, administrator, Federal Highway Administration Elsayed Talaat, director, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Space Weather Observations Media interested in attending in person must RSVP by 5 p.m., Monday, March 25, to Tiernan Doyle at tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov. All media interested in participating by phone must request details no later than two hours before the start of the event. NASA’s media accreditation policy is online.
On April 8, NASA will host live coverage of the eclipse on NASA+, the agency’s website, and the NASA app beginning at 1 p.m. NASA will also stream the broadcast live on its Facebook, X, YouTube, and Twitch social media accounts, as well as have a telescope-only feed of eclipse views on the NASA TV media channel and YouTube.
To learn more about the total solar eclipse, visit:
go.nasa.gov/Eclipse2024
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Karen Fox
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov
Sarah Frazier
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
202-853-7191
sarah.frazier@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Mar 22, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Solar Eclipses 2024 Solar Eclipse Eclipses NASA Headquarters View the full article
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