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Mission Spatiale arrives at the Cité des sciences et de l’industrie in Paris
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By NASA
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, carrying NASA’s EZIE spacecraft into orbit. SpaceX Under the nighttime California sky, NASA’s EZIE (Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer) mission launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 11:43 p.m. PDT on March 14.
Taking off from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Santa Barbara, the EZIE mission’s trio of small satellites will fly in a pearls-on-a-string configuration approximately 260 to 370 miles above Earth’s surface to map the auroral electrojets, powerful electric currents that flow through our upper atmosphere in the polar regions where auroras glow in the sky.
At approximately 2 a.m. PDT on March 15, the EZIE satellites were successfully deployed. Within the next 10 days, the spacecraft will send signals to verify they are in good health and ready to embark on their 18-month mission.
“NASA has leaned into small missions that can provide compelling science while accepting more risk. EZIE represents excellent science being executed by an excellent team, and it is delivering exactly what NASA is looking for,” said Jared Leisner, program executive for EZIE at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
The electrojets — and their visible counterparts, theauroras — are generated duringsolar storms when tremendous amounts of energy get transferred into Earth’s upper atmosphere from the solar wind. Each of the EZIE spacecraft will map the electrojets, advancing our understanding of the physics of how Earth interacts with its surrounding space. This understanding will apply not only to our own planet but also to any magnetized planet in our solar system and beyond. The mission will also help scientists create models for predicting space weather to mitigate its disruptive impacts on our society.
“It is truly incredible to see our spacecraft flying and making critical measurements, marking the start of an exciting new chapter for the EZIE mission,” said Nelli Mosavi-Hoyer, project manager for EZIE at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “I am very proud of the dedication and hard work of our team. This achievement is a testament to the team’s perseverance and expertise, and I look forward to the valuable insights EZIE will bring to our understanding of Earth’s electrojets and space weather.”
Instead of using propulsion to control their polar orbit, the spacecraft will actively use drag experienced while flying through the upper atmosphere to individually tune their spacing. Each successive spacecraft will fly over the same region 2 to 10 minutes after the former.
“Missions have studied these currents before, but typically either at the very large or very small scales,” said Larry Kepko, EZIE mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “EZIE will help us understand how these currents form and evolve, at scales we’ve never probed.”
The mission team is also working to distribute magnetometer kits called EZIE-Mag, which are available to teachers, students, and science enthusiasts who want to take their own measurements of the Earth-space electrical current system. EZIE-Mag data will be combined with EZIE measurements made from space to assemble a clear picture of this vast electrical current circuit.
The EZIE mission is funded by the Heliophysics Division within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA Goddard. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory leads the mission for NASA. Blue Canyon Technologies in Boulder, Colorado, built the CubeSats, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built the Microwave Electrojet Magnetogram, which will map the electrojets, for each of the three satellites.
For the latest mission updates, follow NASA’s EZIE blog.
By Brett Molina
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
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Last Updated Mar 15, 2025 Editor Vanessa Thomas Contact Sarah Frazier sarah.frazier@nasa.gov Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Heliophysics Auroras CubeSats EZIE (Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer) Goddard Space Flight Center Heliophysics Division Missions Small Satellite Missions The Sun Explore More
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4 min read
NASA Atmospheric Wave-Studying Mission Releases Data from First 3,000 Orbits
Following the 3,000th orbit of NASA’s AWE (Atmospheric Waves Experiment) aboard the International Space Station, researchers publicly released the mission’s first trove of scientific data, crucial to investigate how and why subtle changes in Earth’s atmosphere cause disturbances, as well as how these atmospheric disturbances impact technological systems on the ground and in space.
“We’ve released the first 3,000 orbits of data collected by the AWE instrument in space and transmitted back to Earth,” said Ludger Scherliess, principal investigator for the mission and physics professor at Utah State University. “This is a view of atmospheric gravity waves never captured before.”
Available online, the data release contains more than five million individual images of nighttime airglow and atmospheric gravity wave observations collected by the instrument’s four cameras, as well as derived temperature and airglow intensity swaths of the ambient air and the waves.
This image shows AWE data combined from two of the instrument’s passes over the United States. The red and orange wave-structures show increases in brightness (or radiance) in infrared light produced by airglow in Earth’s atmosphere. NASA/AWE/Ludger Scherliess “AWE is providing incredible images and data to further understand what we only first observed less than a decade ago,” said Esayas Shume, AWE program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We are thrilled to share this influential data set with the larger scientific community and look forward to what will be discovered.”
Members of the AWE science team gather in the mission control room at Utah State University to view data collected by the mapping instrument mounted on the outside of the International Space Station. SDL/Allison Bills Atmospheric gravity waves occur naturally in Earth’s atmosphere and are formed by Earth’s weather and topography. Scientists have studied the enigmatic phenomena for years, but mainly from a few select sites on Earth’s surface.
“With data from AWE, we can now begin near-global measurements and studies of the waves and their energy and momentum on scales from tens to hundreds and even thousands of kilometers,” Scherliess said. “This opens a whole new chapter in this field of research.”
Data from AWE will also provide insight into how terrestrial and space weather interactions affect satellite communications, and navigation, and tracking.
“We’ve become very dependent on satellites for applications we use every day, including GPS navigation,” Scherliess said. “AWE is an attempt to bring science about atmospheric gravity waves into focus, and to use that information to better predict space weather that can disrupt satellite communications. We will work closely with our collaborators to better understand how these observed gravity waves impact space weather.”
AWE’s principal investigator, Ludger Scherliess, briefs collaborators of initial analysis of early AWE data. Information from the NASA-funded mission is helping scientists better understand how weather on Earth affects weather in space. SDL/Allison Bills The tuba-shaped AWE instrument, known as the Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper or AMTM, consists of four identical telescopes. It is mounted to the exterior of the International Space Station, where it has a view of Earth.
As the space station orbits Earth, the AMTM’s telescopes capture 7,000-mile-long swaths of the planet’s surface, recording images of atmospheric gravity waves as they move from the lower atmosphere into space. The AMTM measures and records the brightness of light at specific wavelengths, which can be used to create air and wave temperature maps. These maps can reveal the energy of these waves and how they are moving through the atmosphere.
To analyze the data and make it publicly available, AWE researchers and students at USU developed new software to tackle challenges that had never been encountered before.
“Reflections from clouds and the ground can obscure some of the images, and we want to make sure the data provide clear, precise images of the power transported by the waves,” Scherliess said. “We also need to make sure the images coming from the four separate AWE telescopes on the mapper are aligned correctly. Further, we need to ensure stray light reflections coming off the solar panels of the space station, along with moonlight and city lights, are not masking the observations.”
As the scientists move forward with the mission, they’ll investigate how gravity wave activity changes with seasons around the globe. Scherliess looks forward to seeing how the global science community will use the AWE observations.
“Data collected through this mission provides unprecedented insight into the role of weather on the ground on space weather,” he said.
AWE is led by Utah State University in Logan, Utah, and it is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory built the AWE instrument and provides the mission operations center.
By Mary-Ann Muffoletto
Utah State University, Logan, UT
NASA Media Contact: Sarah Frazier
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Last Updated Mar 14, 2025 Related Terms
Heliophysics Heliophysics Division Ionosphere Mesosphere Science Mission Directorate The Sun Uncategorized Explore More
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By European Space Agency
While performing yesterday’s flyby of Mars, ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence made the first use of its payload for scientific purposes beyond Earth and the Moon. Activating a trio of instruments, Hera imaged the surface of the red planet as well as the face of Deimos, the smaller and more mysterious of Mars’s two moons.
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By European Space Agency
High above the Arctic Circle, on the rugged terrain of Andøya, three ESA radionavigation engineers take a rare moment to unwind with a game of shuffleboard. Outside, sheep graze under the shimmering northern lights, a serene backdrop to their demanding mission: test how navigation technologies withstand interference signals. With 100TB of data collected over 5 days, their efforts promise to strengthen the reliability of satellite navigation for the benefit of us all.
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By NASA
5 min read
NASA’s Record-Shattering, Theory-Breaking MMS Mission Turns 10
Since its launch on March 12, 2015, NASA’s MMS, or Magnetospheric Multiscale, mission has been rewriting our understanding of a key physical process that is important across the universe, from black holes to the Sun to Earth’s protective magnetic field.
This process, called magnetic reconnection, occurs when magnetic field lines tangle and explosively realign, flinging away nearby particles. Around Earth, a single magnetic reconnection event can release as much energy in a couple of hours as the entire United States uses in a day.
Over the past 10 years, thousands of research papers with discoveries by MMS have enabled a wide range of technical and scientific advances, such as those about the conditions on the Sun that create space weather, which can impact technology and communications at Earth. It has also enabled insights for fusion energy technologies.
“The MMS mission has been a very important asset in NASA’s heliophysics fleet observatory,” said Guan Le, MMS mission lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It has utterly changed how we understand magnetic reconnection.”
An infographic noting the accomplishments of NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission after 10 years in space. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Kristen Perrin Studying magnetic reconnection is key to understanding where this energy goes and how it can affect us down on the ground.
“The MMS mission not only studies universal physical processes, but it also allows us to probe the mechanisms that connect big eruptions on the Sun to things we experience on Earth, such as auroras, geomagnetic storms, and even power outages in extreme cases,” said Kevin Genestreti, MMS science deputy principal investigator and lead scientist at Southwest Research Institute’s Space Sector in Durham, New Hampshire.
The Perfect Laboratory
Using four identical spacecraft, MMS studies magnetic reconnection while traveling in a long, oval-shaped orbit around Earth — a perfect laboratory for closely studying magnetic reconnection.
“You can measure reconnection in a laboratory, but the scales are so very small there that you can’t make the detailed measurements needed to really understand reconnection,” said Jim Burch, principal investigator for MMS at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.
Magnetic reconnection primarily happens in two locations around Earth, one located on the side facing the Sun, and another behind Earth farther away from the Sun. In their orbit, the four MMS spacecraft repeatedly pass through these key locations.
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This artist’s concept shows magnetic reconnection at Earth during a solar storm. NASA Goddard’s Conceptual Image Lab/Krystofer Kim Before MMS, scientists only had a limited understanding of magnetic reconnection. But by improving instrument measurement speeds tenfold, MMS has been able to dramatically reshape what we know about the process. To date, MMS data has led to over 1,500 published scientific articles.
“For example, it turned out that the basic theory of reconnection in turbulent regions was wrong because previous missions couldn’t make observations at the level MMS can,” Burch said. “We also found reconnection in a lot of places that weren’t predicted.”
Working out new and refined theories of magnetic reconnection was an integral part of the MMS mission from the outset.
“One of the truly groundbreaking findings from MMS is that the heart of reconnection has a well-ordered beat – even if everything around is turbulent,” said Michael Hesse, MMS theory and modeling lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “This shows that precision measurement can decide between competing theories.”
Enabling Breakthroughs for Science and Scientists
The mission’s successes have also been a boon to young scientists, who are closely involved with the mission at all levels.
“In addition to its scientific achievements, it has also helped almost 50 students get doctorate degrees and enabled early career scientists to grow into leadership positions,” Le said.
To foster young scientists, MMS provides early career research grants to team members. The MMS team also created “Leads In-Training” roles to bring early career scientists to the table for big mission decisions and provide them the experience they need to move into leadership positions. The program has been so successful it is now required for all NASA Heliophysics missions.
Breaking Records
Beyond its scientific achievements, MMS also holds several records. Only months after launch, MMS received its first Guinness World Record for highest GPS fix at 44,000 miles above Earth. It would later shatter this record as it moved into a longer orbit, taking it 116,300 miles — halfway to the Moon — away from GPS transponders at Earth. GPS is designed to send signals down toward Earth, so using it in space, where signals are weak, is challenging. By using GPS at high altitudes, MMS has shown its potential for other applications.
“This GPS demonstration has been of great interest for the developers of the Artemis missions, which is testing GPS at lunar distances,” said Jim Clapsadle, MMS mission director at NASA Goddard.
The mission also holds the Guinness World Record for smallest satellite formation, with just 2.6 miles between spacecraft. Over the years, MMS’ four spacecraft have flown in lines and pyramid-shaped formations from 5 to 100 miles across to help scientists study magnetic reconnection on a range of scales. In that time, the spacecraft’s health has remained remarkably well.
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This artist’s concept beauty pass shows the MMS spacecraft flying on Earth’s nightside, where MMS continues to study magnetic reconnection. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab “The hardware has proved very reliable, even now, 10 years into flight,” said Trevor Williams, MMS flight dynamics lead at NASA Goddard.
After launch, Williams and the flight operations team came up with more fuel-efficient ways to maneuver the spacecraft and keep them at their designated separations. As a result, the mission still has about a fourth of the fuel it launched with. This economy leaves enough fuel to continue operating the mission for decades. That’s good news to mission scientists who are eager to continue studying magnetic reconnection with MMS.
“We have thousands of magnetic reconnection events on the day side, but far fewer on the nightside,” Burch said. “But over the next three years we’ll be in a prime location to finish investigating nightside reconnection.”
By Mara Johnson-Groh
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Media Contact: Sarah Frazier
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Last Updated Mar 12, 2025 Editor Miles Hatfield Contact Mara Johnson-Groh Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Heliophysics Earth’s Magnetic Field Goddard Space Flight Center Science & Research Explore More
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