Vandenberg Launches NASA's TRACERS Mission
Vandenberg SFB Guardians and Airmen supported the NASA Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) mission launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, July 23, 2025. Earth’s magnetosphere shields the planet from solar wind, but magnetic reconnection, caused by interactions between solar wind and the magnetosphere, can direct energetic particles into the atmosphere. This process causes phenomena such as auroras but can also disrupt satellites and GPS systems. TRACERS aims to better understand these dynamics by closely studying reconnection events in the polar cusps. (U.S. Space Force photo illustration by Staff Sergeant Joshua LeRoi)
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