NASA has restored telemetry and commanding with one of the twin TRACERS spacecraft after both experienced anomalies following their July launch. The mission studies magnetic reconnection that drives geomagnetic storms; teams continue troubleshooting the second vehicle while assessing impacts to science return.
Discovered |
Briefing
Restoring contact with one of the twin TRACERS spacecraft — which were deployed by a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg in July — preserves partial mission capability to study magnetic reconnection while engineers attempt recovery of the second satellite.
The incident is comparable to recent in-flight recoveries and communications restorations, such as when Psyche recovered from a thruster fault and ESA restored JUICE communications after an anomaly; those precedents illustrate that a single-spacecraft recovery can preserve meaningful science, but the second vehicle's status will determine the mission's full return.
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• Jeff Foust