NASA’s TRACERS Mission Scrubbed, July 23 Next Attempt

NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than 2:13 p.m. EDT, (11:13 a.m. PDT) Wednesday, July 23, for launch of the agency’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission scrubbed on July 22 due to Federal Aviation Administration airspace concerns that created a no-go condition for launch. The rocket and payloads remain in good health.

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. 

Riding along with TRACERS aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 are NASA’s Athena EPIC (Economical Payload Integration Cost), PExT (Polylingual Experimental Terminal), and REAL (Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss) missions — three small satellites to demonstrate new technologies and gather scientific data. 

For any additional updates, visit NASA’s TRACERS blog and @NASAKennedy on X.