Falcon 9 • TRACERS

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) as the primary payload on a rideshare mission secured through the agency’s VADR (Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) launch services contract, providing new opportunities for science and technology payloads. The two TRACERS satellites are designed to study the interaction of the Sun’s solar particles interact with the Earth’s magnetic field to better understand the impacts of solar activity on Earth. The mission is conducted through a partnership between NASA; the University of Iowa; the Southwest Research Institute; the University of New Hampshire; the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of California, Los Angeles. Along for the launch as ride share payloads are the Athena EPIC (Economical Payload Integration Cost) SmallSat from NASA’s Langley Research Center, NOAA and the U.S. Space Force; the Polylingual Experimental Terminal from NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program; and the REAL (Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss) CubeSat from Dartmouth College. The Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number B1081, which made its 16th flight, landed back at Landing Zone 4 less than eight minutes after liftoff.