https://spacenews.com/nasa-selects-spacex-for-rideshare-launch-of-smallsat-mission/ [Jeff Foust, Sep 30]QuoteNASA selected TRACERS in 2019 as a heliophysics Small Explorer, or SMEX, mission, with a cost of no more than $115 million. At the time it was planned to launch as a secondary payload with another SMEX mission, the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH). In August 2022, though, NASA said that PUNCH would fly on the same Falcon 9 as an agency astrophysics mission, the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Re-ionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) in 2025.The NASA announcement of the TRACERS launch did not state how the spacecraft would launch other than on a Falcon 9, and did not provide a launch date. NASA spokesperson Leejay Lockhart said Sept. 29 that TRACERS will be the primary payload of a rideshare mission going to sun-synchronous orbit no earlier than April 2025.
NASA selected TRACERS in 2019 as a heliophysics Small Explorer, or SMEX, mission, with a cost of no more than $115 million. At the time it was planned to launch as a secondary payload with another SMEX mission, the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH). In August 2022, though, NASA said that PUNCH would fly on the same Falcon 9 as an agency astrophysics mission, the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Re-ionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) in 2025.The NASA announcement of the TRACERS launch did not state how the spacecraft would launch other than on a Falcon 9, and did not provide a launch date. NASA spokesperson Leejay Lockhart said Sept. 29 that TRACERS will be the primary payload of a rideshare mission going to sun-synchronous orbit no earlier than April 2025.
Quote from: StraumliBlight on 11/12/2024 06:39 pmSpacecraft Completed for NASA’s TRACERS Mission, Key Milestone Passed [Nov 12]QuoteMillennium Space Systems, a Boeing company, finished building the two satellites for the TRACERS mission in October 2024. The team is completing integration of the TRACERS instruments, and the two satellites will enter the testing phase. Once testing is completed, the spacecraft will be shipped to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California for integration with the launch vehicle.“It’s exciting to see the TRACERS instruments and the two spacecraft come together. The team is making excellent progress toward launch,” said David Miles, TRACERS principal investigator at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.In addition, the mission successfully passed a critical review, called Key Decision Point D, on Aug. 8, 2024, preparing TRACERS to achieve a target launch readiness date no earlier than April 2025. With the successful review, TRACERS moved into Phase D, the official transition from the mission’s development stage to the delivery of the spacecraft, testing, assembly, and integration into the launch vehicle in preparation for launch.Another addition to the TRACERS rideshare, University of Colorado Boulder's 12U 19.5 kg SPRITE (Supernova Remnants and Proxies for ReIonization Testbed Experiment) cubesat will be on board (1183-EX-CN-2024). [Dec 1]QuoteThe satellite will be launched as a secondary payload aboard a Space-X Falcon 9, with the primary payload the TRACERS mission, No Earlier Than April 13, 2025. It will be inserted into an orbit at 510 km apogee and 510 km perigee, on an inclination from the equator of 97.4 degrees.
Spacecraft Completed for NASA’s TRACERS Mission, Key Milestone Passed [Nov 12]QuoteMillennium Space Systems, a Boeing company, finished building the two satellites for the TRACERS mission in October 2024. The team is completing integration of the TRACERS instruments, and the two satellites will enter the testing phase. Once testing is completed, the spacecraft will be shipped to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California for integration with the launch vehicle.“It’s exciting to see the TRACERS instruments and the two spacecraft come together. The team is making excellent progress toward launch,” said David Miles, TRACERS principal investigator at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.In addition, the mission successfully passed a critical review, called Key Decision Point D, on Aug. 8, 2024, preparing TRACERS to achieve a target launch readiness date no earlier than April 2025. With the successful review, TRACERS moved into Phase D, the official transition from the mission’s development stage to the delivery of the spacecraft, testing, assembly, and integration into the launch vehicle in preparation for launch.
Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing company, finished building the two satellites for the TRACERS mission in October 2024. The team is completing integration of the TRACERS instruments, and the two satellites will enter the testing phase. Once testing is completed, the spacecraft will be shipped to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California for integration with the launch vehicle.“It’s exciting to see the TRACERS instruments and the two spacecraft come together. The team is making excellent progress toward launch,” said David Miles, TRACERS principal investigator at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.In addition, the mission successfully passed a critical review, called Key Decision Point D, on Aug. 8, 2024, preparing TRACERS to achieve a target launch readiness date no earlier than April 2025. With the successful review, TRACERS moved into Phase D, the official transition from the mission’s development stage to the delivery of the spacecraft, testing, assembly, and integration into the launch vehicle in preparation for launch.
The satellite will be launched as a secondary payload aboard a Space-X Falcon 9, with the primary payload the TRACERS mission, No Earlier Than April 13, 2025. It will be inserted into an orbit at 510 km apogee and 510 km perigee, on an inclination from the equator of 97.4 degrees.
Celestis' Serenity Flight is aboard ABOVE: Space's Prometheus SPARK mission.Jeff Greenblatt mentions in the interview that NASA is the primary payload and its launching from Cape Canaveral in April 2025, so it could be the TRACERS launch.https://twitter.com/celestisflights/status/1859692599600423299
Why isn’t TRACERS manifested for a Transporter mission?
Launch Readiness Date: April 13, 2025
Dione has constructed a flatsat using flight hardware and begun testing each of the components. They will then move from the flatsat to flight integration and test of the spacecraft. They are on schedule to deliver for a SpaceX launch opportunity in April, 2025.
Dione is a 6U CubeSat, which means it is limited to 366mm x 226.3mm x 100mm in volume, and a mass not to exceed 12 kg
The baseline Dione mission is required to complete science measurements of all local times at north and south latitudes between ±45 degrees at least twice during its mission life, and during one equinox and one solstice. These measurements are to be obtained in a circular Low Earth Orbit (LEO), between 400-600 km altitude, and at inclinations from 70° to 87°.
NASA's 6U Dione cubesat (previously removed from Transporter-11 and a possible for TSIS-2) may be on this launch.
Quote from: StraumliBlight on 01/30/2025 08:57 pmNASA's 6U Dione cubesat (previously removed from Transporter-11 and a possible for TSIS-2) may be on this launch.I think its more likely that Dione is flying on Bandwagon 3 scheduled for 20 April.
True Anomaly filed something about a satellite NET May 11 with all the details redacted0190-EX-ST-2025
Satellite Name: MX2.5Inclination: 97.5°Apogee/Perigee: 510 km
Quote from: Steven Pietrobon on 01/31/2025 04:46 amI think its more likely that Dione is flying on Bandwagon 3 scheduled for 20 April.What makes you say that?
I think its more likely that Dione is flying on Bandwagon 3 scheduled for 20 April.
Rumors suggest 2 other missions could be on this rideshare:- NovaWurks EPIC-ATHENA: https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/athena_nasa.htm
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (“NTIA”) is in the process of authorizing the United States Space Force (“USSF”) to conduct experiments with EPIC Athena, a micro satellite mission scheduled to be launched into low earth orbit no earlier than May 11, 2025.[...]USSF will operate a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”) earth albedo sensor aboard EPIC Athena to demonstrate earth sensing technical capabilities. An Iridium transceiver modem (model 9603) will communicate with Iridium’s “Big LEO” constellation to relay collected data to the Earth.Transmissions will begin 30 minutes after deployment and cease upon completion of the mission.
Athena is a one-year mission that has been selected to launch as a rideshare on a SpaceX Falcon 9 that is tentatively scheduled for launch in the spring of 2025 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., into a 1030 LTAN Sun Syncronous polar orbit.
Pursuant to Section 25.120 of the Commission’s Rules, ATLAS Space Operations, Inc (ATLAS) requests Special Temporary Authority (STA) for sixty (60) days or until a fixed license is granted, commencing upon grant for the operation of our satellite earth station in Guam (call sign E190037) to communicate with the York/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) PExT spacecraft under experimental license call sign WO2XEK and file number 1500-EX-CN-2023. This request is of a temporary nature to cover the period of time until the pending ATLAS SES-MOD-20230801-01927 is acted upon and a subsequent earth station license modification is submitted to include the details in this application.ATLAS has also concurrently submitted a 180 day STA for this same point of communication as the approaching launch date of May 11, 2025 may not be sufficient time for the 180 day STA to complete its 30 day public notice period and be granted in time. If the launch of the spacecraft is delayed, ATLAS will withdraw this 60 day STA and only pursue the 180 day STA.A frequency coordination report is currently being completed and will be appended to this application on or about March 20, 2025.
Quote from: gongora on 01/31/2025 06:59 pmTrue Anomaly filed something about a satellite NET May 11 with all the details redacted0190-EX-ST-2025In Attachment A & C:QuoteSatellite Name: MX2.5Inclination: 97.5°Apogee/Perigee: 510 km"MX-2" was the name of the Jackal mission that launched on Bandwagon 2 and VICTUS HAZE is launching Fall 2025 with Firefly.
True Anomaly, Inc. (“True Anomaly”) hereby withdraws the above-referenced pending application forspecial temporary authority. The MX.2.5 mission has been rebooked on a subsequent launch mission withdifferent launch parameters. True Anomaly intends to submit a new application in short order thataccurately reflects these updated mission parameters.
Today we talk about the last, but not least, instrument aboard the TRACERS mission! Main Electronics Box hosts the electronics for the previously introduced instruments: EFI, MSC and MAG. MEB also contains other components provided by the University of Iowa, such as: Low Voltage Power Supply and Central Data Processing Unit.
After assembling the full instrument suite for TRACERS at Van Allen Hall, the UI team shipped the payloads last year to Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space Systems in California, where engineers constructed and tested the satellites. From there, the spacecraft are scheduled in early April to be transported to Vandenberg Space Force Base for integration in the launch vehicle, the SpaceX Falcon 9.
After Tragic Loss, Iowa TRACERS Team Brings NASA Mission to Launch [Mar 11]
Quote from: StraumliBlight on 04/02/2025 02:42 pmAfter Tragic Loss, Iowa TRACERS Team Brings NASA Mission to Launch [Mar 11]"TRACERS was previously scheduled to take flight May 11, but the launch was recently delayed and the specific date remains up in the air."
This year, a 230-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to roar skyward from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base, heralding the start of a landmark University of Iowa-led mission. Aboard the SpaceX vessel, twin spacecraft known as TRACERS—Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites—will begin their journey to study Earth’s mysterious magnetic interactions with the sun. The satellites will be packed with scientific instruments along with two small, but meaningful, tokens.
Below are clips of TRACERS’ testing and integration at the Millennium Space Systems Small Satellite Factory in El Segundo, California.
Below are clips of Millennium Space Systems’ team members conducting Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) testing at the Boeing Space Systems Laboratory in El Segundo, California.
