TRACERS: The University of Iowa Leads NASA-Funded Space Weather Research with Twin SatellitesA Q&A with Jasper HalekasOn July 23, 2025, a NASA-funded mission led by the University of Iowa saw the successful launch of its twin satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base space launch complex 4E, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. ACE was designed and built at the University of Iowa for the TRACERS mission. Mary Grush: Why is the TRACERS mission important to the study of space weather? Halekas: Magnetic reconnection is a process that occurs in a space plasma, that basically allows a crack to form in the Earth's magnetic field. The cusp is basically a big funnel that connects Earth's atmosphere and ionosphere out to the front of the Earth's magnetic bubble.