Credit: University of Iowa / Andy Kale", "items": [ { "id": 469282, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1154340, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014805/TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K_ProRes.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K_ProRes.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Beauty Pass – 4KCredit: University of Iowa / Andy Kale", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 469283, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1154341, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014805/TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K_ProRes.00001_searchweb.png", "filename": "TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K_ProRes.00001_searchweb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "NASA’s Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, or TRACERS mission, consists of two satellites that will help understand magnetic reconnection and its effects in Earth’s atmosphere. Magnetic reconnection occurs when activity from the Sun interacts with Earth’s magnetic field. By understanding this process, scientists will be able to better understand and prepare for impacts of solar activity on Earth.\n\nThe TRACERS mission is led by David Miles at the University of Iowa and managed by the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. NASA’s Heliophysics Explorers Program Office at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides mission oversight to the project for the agency’s Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.\n\nLearn more about the mission: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/tracers/", "width": 180, "height": 320, "pixels": 57600 } }, { "id": 469284, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1154342, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014805/TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K_ProRes.00001_web.png", "filename": "TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K_ProRes.00001_web.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Beauty Pass – 4KCredit: University of Iowa / Andy Kale", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } }, { "id": 469285, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1154343, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014805/TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K_ProRes.00001_thm.png", "filename": "TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K_ProRes.00001_thm.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Beauty Pass – 4KCredit: University of Iowa / Andy Kale", "width": 80, "height": 40, "pixels": 3200 } }, { "id": 462572, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1153614, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014805/TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_1080.mp4", "filename": "TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_1080.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Beauty Pass – 4KCredit: University of Iowa / Andy Kale", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 469286, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1154344, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014805/TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K_ProRes.webm", "filename": "TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K_ProRes.webm", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Beauty Pass – 4KCredit: University of Iowa / Andy Kale", "width": 3840, "height": 2160, "pixels": 8294400 } }, { "id": 469275, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1154332, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014805/TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K.mp4", "filename": "TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Beauty Pass – 4KCredit: University of Iowa / Andy Kale", "width": 3840, "height": 2160, "pixels": 8294400 } }, { "id": 469276, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1154333, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014805/TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K_ProRes.mov", "filename": "TRACERSbeauty_Iowa_4K_ProRes.mov", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Beauty Pass – 4KCredit: University of Iowa / Andy Kale", "width": 3840, "height": 2160, "pixels": 8294400 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 377700, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14805/#media_group_377700", "widget": "Video player", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "Vertical Pan – 4K
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Some of the tools TRACERS will use to study the local plasma involved in magnetic reconnection – including the EFI, MAG, MSC and MAGIC instruments – will be on arms attached to the outside of the spacecraft.\r\rCredit: Millennium Space Systems", "items": [ { "id": 462577, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1153620, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014805/TRACERS_Millennium_8K.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "TRACERS_Millennium_8K.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Instruments – 8KSome of the tools TRACERS will use to study the local plasma involved in magnetic reconnection – including the EFI, MAG, MSC and MAGIC instruments – will be on arms attached to the outside of the spacecraft.\r\rCredit: Millennium Space Systems", "width": 1024, "height": 640, "pixels": 655360 } }, { "id": 462578, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1153621, "url": 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the spacecraft.\r\rCredit: Millennium Space Systems", "width": 80, "height": 40, "pixels": 3200 } }, { "id": 462574, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1153616, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014805/TRACERS_Millennium_1080.mp4", "filename": "TRACERS_Millennium_1080.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Instruments – 8KSome of the tools TRACERS will use to study the local plasma involved in magnetic reconnection – including the EFI, MAG, MSC and MAGIC instruments – will be on arms attached to the outside of the spacecraft.\r\rCredit: Millennium Space Systems", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 462575, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1153617, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014805/TRACERS_Millennium_4K.mp4", "filename": "TRACERS_Millennium_4K.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Instruments – 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[], "nasa_science_categories": [ "Sun" ], "keywords": [ "Animation", "Heliophysics", "magnetic field", "Magnetic Fields", "Magnetic Reconnection", "Magnetosphere", "Plasma", "Polar Cusp", "Satellite", "Solar Storm", "Solar Wind", "Space Weather", "Spacecraft", "Sun", "TRACERS" ], "recommended_pages": [], "related": [ { "id": 14863, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14863/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Quickshot: New NASA Mission Launching Soon To Study Earth’s Space Weather Shield", "description": "Scroll down page for advisory with suggested questions and anchor intro. You will also find the associated cut b-roll and pre-recorded soundbites below.Click here for more information about TRACERS || Live_Shot_Banner_TRACERS_final.jpg (1800x720) [256.8 KB] || Live_Shot_Banner_TRACERS_final_print.jpg (1024x409) [150.1 KB] || Live_Shot_Banner_TRACERS_final_searchweb.png (320x180) [82.8 KB] || Live_Shot_Banner_TRACERS_final_thm.png (80x40) [6.5 KB] || ", "release_date": "2025-07-17T09:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-07-16T14:34:14.307612-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1156904, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014863/David_Miles_University_of_Iowa_1.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "David_Miles_University_of_Iowa_1.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Pre-recorded interview with David Miles / TRACERS Principal Investigator University of Iowa. TRT 6:04. Full transcript is available under the download button. SOTS are separated by a slate with the associated question. SOTs answer the following questions:1. NASA is getting ready to launch a new mission to study how space weather impacts Earth. Can you explain what space weather is?2. We have had several geomagnetic storms and beautiful auroras in the past year across the globe, especially last May. Can you explain how TRACERS will study these storms? 3. We keep hearing about magnetic reconnection and the charged particles that hit Earth. Can you help us visualize what's actually happening when these magnetic field lines snap and reconnect? (answer #1 and answer #2)4. TRACERS has two small satellites flying in tandem. Why was this mission designed to have two spacecraft instead of just one? (answer #1 and answer #2)5. Why is understanding space weather important for protecting our astronauts as well as technology in space and on the ground?6. Where can our viewers learn more?7. What makes TRACERS different from the other missions that study the Sun? 8. How will the data from TRACERS help us improve space weather forecasts?9. What are you most excited about with this mission?", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 20404, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20404/", "page_type": "Animation", "title": "TRACERS Science Animations", "description": "The TRACERS, or the 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. Magnetic reconnection occurs when magnetic fields and particles from the Sun interact with Earth’s magnetic field. By understanding this process, scientists will be able to better understand and prepare for impacts of solar activity on Earth, such as auroras and disruptions to telecommunications.Learn more about the mission: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/tracers/ || ", "release_date": "2025-06-02T12:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-07-02T13:53:16.455608-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1155490, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a020000/a020400/a020404/TRACERS_S3_A_30fps_4k_proRes.00790_print.jpg", "filename": "TRACERS_S3_A_30fps_4k_proRes.00790_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "In this animation, the TRACERS spacecraft fly by the camera and enter the polar cusp, where the two spacecraft will make more than 3,000 measurements of dayside magnetic reconnection in the first year of the mission. Orange particles and shading represent an artistic rendering of what flying through the polar cusp would look like if the region was visible to the naked eye.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 14829, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14829/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "TRACERS Thermal Vacuum Testing at Millennium Space Systems", "description": "NASA’s Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, or TRACERS, is embarking on its integration and testing campaign, during which all of the instruments and components will be added to the spacecraft structure, tested to ensure they will survive the harsh environments of launch and space, and made ready to execute its mission. The TRACERS mission will help scientists understand an explosive process called magnetic reconnection and its effects in Earth’s atmosphere. Magnetic reconnection occurs when magnetic fields and particles from the Sun interact with Earth’s magnetic field. By understanding this process, scientists will be able to better understand and prepare for impacts of solar activity on Earth, such as auroras and disruptions to telecommunications.Below are clips of Millennium Space Systems’ team members conducting Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) testing at the Boeing Space Systems Laboratory in El Segundo, California.Learn more about the mission: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/tracers/ || ", "release_date": "2025-04-25T10:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-06-02T12:39:50.809899-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1154712, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014829/14829_TRACERS_TVAC_06_print.jpg", "filename": "14829_TRACERS_TVAC_06_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Photo: Millennium Space Systems team members prepare the TRACERS spacecraft for Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) testing at Boeing Space Systems Laboratory in El Segundo, CA. The testing will ensure it can withstand the harsh conditions of space.Credit: Millennium Space Systems", "width": 1024, "height": 682, "pixels": 698368 } }, { "id": 14827, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14827/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "TRACERS Instrument Development & Testing at the University of Iowa", "description": "NASA’s Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, or TRACERS, is embarking on its integration and testing campaign, during which all of the instruments and components will be added to the spacecraft structure, tested to ensure they will survive the harsh environments of launch and space, and made ready to execute its mission. The TRACERS mission will help scientists understand an explosive process called magnetic reconnection and its effects in Earth’s atmosphere. Magnetic reconnection occurs when magnetic fields and particles from the Sun interact with Earth’s magnetic field. By understanding this process, scientists will be able to better understand and prepare for impacts of solar activity on Earth, such as auroras and disruptions to telecommunications.Below are clips of TRACERS’ instrument design, build, and testing at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa.Learn more about the mission: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/tracers/ || ", "release_date": "2025-04-24T15:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-04-23T09:54:44.701882-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1154631, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014827/14827_TRACERSUIowa_12_print.jpg", "filename": "14827_TRACERSUIowa_12_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Photo: Andrew Carton, TRACERS aerospace engineer, conducts final tests on the TRACERS instruments while they’re bolted onto the mock spacecraft “Flat Sat” in a clean room at Van Allen Hall at the University of Iowa, before the instrument suite was packed and shipped to Millennium Space Systems in California.Credit: University of Iowa / Tim Schoon", "width": 1024, "height": 682, "pixels": 698368 } }, { "id": 14828, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14828/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "TRACERS Testing & Integration at Millennium Space Systems", "description": "NASA’s Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, or TRACERS, is embarking on its integration and testing campaign, during which all of the instruments and components will be added to the spacecraft structure, tested to ensure they will survive the harsh environments of launch and space, and made ready to execute its mission. The TRACERS mission will help scientists understand an explosive process called magnetic reconnection and its effects in Earth’s atmosphere. Magnetic reconnection occurs when magnetic fields and particles from the Sun interact with Earth’s magnetic field. By understanding this process, scientists will be able to better understand and prepare for impacts of solar activity on Earth, such as auroras and disruptions to telecommunications.Below are clips of TRACERS’ testing and integration at the Millennium Space Systems Small Satellite Factory in El Segundo, California. Learn more about the mission: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/tracers/ || ", "release_date": "2025-04-24T15:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-04-24T15:39:33.272117-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1154698, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014828/14828_TRACERSMillenniumSpaceSystems_06_print.jpg", "filename": "14828_TRACERSMillenniumSpaceSystems_06_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Photo: One of two TRACERS spacecraft is prepared for spin testing inside a clean room at Millennium Space Systems Small Satellite Factory in El Segundo, CA. Credit: Millennium Space Systems", "width": 1024, "height": 682, "pixels": 698368 } }, { "id": 14542, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14542/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "EZIE – Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer", "description": "Slated to launch in 2025, NASA’s Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) will be the first mission to image the magnetic fingerprint of the auroral electrojets — intense electric currents flowing high above Earth’s poles that are central to the electrical circuit coupling the planet’s magnetosphere to its atmosphere.Led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), EZIE will use a trio of small satellites to characterize and record the electrojets’ structure over space and time. It will fill gaps in our understanding of this space weather phenomenon and provide findings that scientists can apply to other magnetized planets, both within and outside our solar system.Learn more:https://science.nasa.gov/mission/ezie/ || ", "release_date": "2024-03-05T10:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2026-03-09T16:30:21-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1089837, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014500/a014542/22-04969_-_EZIE_Mission_Trailer_V6.00090_print.jpg", "filename": "22-04969_-_EZIE_Mission_Trailer_V6.00090_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "EZIE: The Mission to Explore Earth's Link to Space (OFFICIAL TRAILER)Developed and led for NASA by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, EZIE is a mission to explore Earth’s electrojets — intense electric currents flowing high above Earth’s polar regions and the dayside equatorial region. EZIE will provide unprecedented measurements of these electrical currents to answer decades-old — and much debated — mysteries. Understanding these currents is key to scientists’ ability to develop capabilities for predicting hazardous space weather.Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 14299, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14299/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "What is Plasma?", "description": "Plasma makes up 99.9% of the visible universe, but what is it? This video discusses what plasma is, where it lives, and how NASA studies it. || ", "release_date": "2023-03-10T10:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T11:43:40.616712-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 765272, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014200/a014299/14299_PlasmaMMS_YouTube.00420_print.jpg", "filename": "14299_PlasmaMMS_YouTube.00420_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Complete transcript available.Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic credit: “Artificial Intelligence” by Matteo Pagamici [SUISA], Max Molling [SUISA] via Universal Production Music", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 12901, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12901/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA Spacecraft Finds New Magnetic Process in Turbulent Space", "description": "Though close to home, the space immediately around Earth is full of hidden secrets and invisible processes. In a new discovery reported in the journal Nature, scientists working with NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft — MMS — have uncovered a new type of magnetic event in our near-Earth environment by using an innovative technique to squeeze extra information out of the data.Magnetic reconnection is one of the most important processes in the space — filled with charged particles known as plasma — around Earth. This fundamental process dissipates magnetic energy and propels charged particles, both of which contribute to a dynamic space weather system that scientists want to better understand, and even someday predict, as we do terrestrial weather. Reconnection occurs when crossed magnetic field lines snap, explosively flinging away nearby particles at high speeds. The new discovery found reconnection where it has never been seen before — in turbulent plasma. || ", "release_date": "2018-05-09T13:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:46:49.900876-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 405569, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012901/LARGE_MP4_12901_TurbulentPlasma_MagneticReconnection_large.00204_print.jpg", "filename": "LARGE_MP4_12901_TurbulentPlasma_MagneticReconnection_large.00204_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Conceptual animation - Explosive Magnetic Reconnection in Turbulent PlasmaIn a turbulent magnetic environment, magnetic field lines become scrambled. As the field lines cross, intense electric currents (shown here as bright regions) form and eventually trigger magnetic reconnection (indicated by a flash), which is an explosive event that releases magnetic energy accumulated in the current layers and ejects high-speed bi-directional jets of electrons. NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission witnessed this process in action as it flew through the electron jets the turbulent boundary just at the edge of Earth’s magnetic environment.Credit: NASA Goddard’s Conceptual Image Lab/Lisa Poje\rSimulations by: University of Chicago/Colby Haggerty; University of Delaware/Tulasi ParasharWatch this video on the NASA.gov Video YouTube channel.\r", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 10204, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10204/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "MMS Mission Overview", "description": "Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here. || missionoverview_print.jpg (1024x576) [146.3 KB] || missionoverview.jpg (1280x720) [125.0 KB] || missionoverview_thm.png (80x40) [16.6 KB] || missionoverview_web.png (320x180) [72.7 KB] || missionoverview_searchweb.png (320x180) [72.7 KB] || missionoverview_web.jpg (320x180) [28.5 KB] || G2014-103_MMS_Mission_OverviewMASTER_appletv.webm (960x540) [31.6 MB] || G2014-103_MMS_Mission_OverviewMASTER_appletv_subtitles.m4v (960x540) [117.8 MB] || G2014-103_MMS_Mission_OverviewMASTER_youtube_hq.mov (1280x720) [183.1 MB] || G2014-103_MMS_Mission_OverviewMASTER_appletv.m4v (960x540) [117.9 MB] || G2014-103_MMS_Mission_OverviewMASTER_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [136.2 MB] || G2014-103_MMS_Mission_OverviewMASTER_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [47.2 MB] || G2014-103_MMS_Mission_OverviewMASTER.en_US.vtt [5.6 KB] || G2014-103_MMS_Mission_OverviewMASTER.en_US.srt [5.6 KB] || G2014-103_MMS_Mission_OverviewMASTER_nasaportal.mov (640x360) [109.7 MB] || G2014-103_MMS_Mission_OverviewMASTER_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [25.0 MB] || G2014-103_MMS_Mission_OverviewMASTER_prores.mov (1280x720) [4.3 GB] || ", "release_date": "2015-02-18T11:30:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:49:58.436685-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 448200, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010200/a010204/missionoverview.jpg", "filename": "missionoverview.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } }, { "id": 20192, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20192/", "page_type": "Animation", "title": "Space Weather", "description": "This movie takes us on a space weather journey from the center of the sun to solar eruptions in the sun's atmosphere all the way to the effects of that activity near Earth. The view starts in the core of the sun where atoms fuse together to create light and energy. Next we travel toward the sun's surface, watching loops of magnetic fields rise up to break through the sun's atmosphere, the corona. In the corona is where we witness giant bursts of radiation and energy known as solar flares, as well as gigantic eruptions of solar material called coronal mass ejections or CMEs. The movie follows one of these CME's toward Earth where it impacts and compresses Earth's own protective magnetic bubble, the magnetosphere. As energy and particles from the sun funnel along magnetic field lines near Earth, they ultimately produce aurora at Earth's poles. || ", "release_date": "2012-09-20T00:01:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-06-23T00:18:22.563282-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 472119, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a020000/a020100/a020192/SBP01Shot01_03_01000_print.jpg", "filename": "SBP01Shot01_03_01000_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Fusion", "width": 1024, "height": 384, "pixels": 393216 } }, { "id": 10623, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10623/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Rebounding Plasma Flows in the Inner Magnetosphere", "description": "Substorms send jets of plasma careening Earthward at speeds near 600,000 miles/hour. Researchers comparing multipoint THEMIS spacecraft observations with the predictions of numerical simulations have determined the width of one such jet and determined what happened to it when it encountered the strong magnetic fields within the inner magnetosphere. Plasma jets with the width of the Earth slam into the inner magnetosphere, generating vortices with opposite senses of rotation that appear and disappear on either side of the plasma jet. These vortices become sources of field-aligned electrical currents that flow down to the Earth's ionosphere, where they generate auroral brightenings and intense magnetic field disturbances. After striking the inner magnetospheric magnetic field, the plasma jet itself bounces back and forth, losing energy each time it encounters the magnetic field, and continuing to oscillate until the flow energy is dissipated in the form of plasma heating. || ", "release_date": "2010-07-29T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2024-12-27T12:59:17.449775-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 491009, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010600/a010623/ReconBounce1322.01202_print.jpg", "filename": "ReconBounce1322.01202_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Reconnection bounce animation", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 20101, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20101/", "page_type": "Animation", "title": "Magnetic Reconnection 2", "description": "This is an update to an older magnetic reconnection animation (10072). The ionized wind from the Sun generates reconnection in the Earth's magnetic field. Particles leak in from the rediation belts producing the auroras. || ", "release_date": "2007-04-06T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:55:43.540777-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 508929, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a020000/a020100/a020101/reconL090500897_print.jpg", "filename": "reconL090500897_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "3-D Anaglyph Reconnection animation", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 20097, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20097/", "page_type": "Animation", "title": "Substorms", "description": "This animation shows a magnetospheric substorm, during which the reconnection causes energy to be rapidly released along the field lines causing the auroras to brighten. || ", "release_date": "2007-01-17T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-06-03T00:19:07.924901-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 509415, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a020000/a020000/a020097/Substorms5.jpg", "filename": "Substorms5.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The plasma encountering the Earth's atmosphere, causing auroras.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [ { "id": 14862, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14862/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA’s TRACERS Studies Magnetic Explosions Above Earth", "description": "NASA's TRACERS mission, or the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, will fly in low Earth orbit through the polar cusps, funnel-shaped holes in the magnetic field, to study magnetic reconnection and its effects in Earth's atmosphere. Magnetic reconnection is a mysterious process that happens when the solar wind, made of electrically charged particles and magnetic fields from the Sun, collides with Earth's magnetic shield, causing magnetic field lines to violently snap and explosively fling away particles at high speeds. This process has huge impacts on Earth, from causing breathtaking auroras to disrupting communications and power grids on Earth. TRACERS is launching no earlier than summer 2025 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.Find out more about the TRACERS mission and how it will help us better understand the ways space weather affects us on Earth: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/tracers/ || ", "release_date": "2025-07-14T11:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-06-27T10:39:30.842035-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1156667, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014800/a014862/14862_TRACERSoverview_Thumbnail.jpg", "filename": "14862_TRACERSoverview_Thumbnail.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Produced VideoWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.Music Credit: \"Praxis I,” “Three Voices,” and “Die Vogel” by Alexis Francois Georges Delong [SACEM], “Anticipation” by Nicholas Smith [PRS], “Ocean Wisdom” by Hugo Dubery and Philippe Galtier [SACEM], and “Call from the Sea” by MACARON [SACEM] from Universal Production MusicAdditional Video and Animations: University of Iowa, Southwest Research Institute, Millennium Space Systems, Andøya Space / Trond AbrahamsenSound Effects: Pixabay", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } ], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }