(Radio Iowa) – Two satellites built by researchers at the University of Iowa were launched into orbit Wednesday in a partnership with NASA and SpaceX. The satellites will help researchers answer questions about how solar wind impacts the Earth’s magnetic field, which can impact everything from phone calls to G-P-S maps. A crowd at a viewing party hosted by the university erupted into cheers when the rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The U-I received 115-million dollars from NASA for the TRACERS mission, which stands for Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites. The twin satellites were carried into low-Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Over the next few weeks, researchers at the university will slowly begin turning on the satellite sensors and start collecting data. U-I physics and astronomy professor Allison Jaynes says it was a relief to see the launch.  “It’s always this big adrenaline rush after you’ve been working on something for years of your life and you’ve seen it from concept all the way through to design to build and then to launch,” Jaynes says. “And to know that it could all come down to this one moment, whether it’s successful or not.”

The project was pioneered by Iowa physics professor Craig Kletzing, who died in 2023. Two of his guitar picks were sent into orbit with the rocket, one aboard each satellite.

NASA illustration of TRACERS