{"id":13145,"date":"2025-02-25T18:09:55","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T22:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/nasas-ezie-launching-to-study-magnetic-fingerprints-of-earths-aurora\/"},"modified":"2025-02-25T18:09:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T22:09:55","slug":"nasas-ezie-launching-to-study-magnetic-fingerprints-of-earths-aurora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/nasas-ezie-launching-to-study-magnetic-fingerprints-of-earths-aurora\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s EZIE Launching to Study Magnetic Fingerprints of Earth\u2019s Aurora"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s EZIE Launching to Study Magnetic Fingerprints of Earth\u2019s Aurora<\/h2>\n

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5 Min Read<\/div>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNASA\u2019s EZIE Launching to Study Magnetic Fingerprints of Earth\u2019s Aurora\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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High above Earth\u2019s poles, intense electrical currents called electrojets flow through the upper atmosphere when auroras glow in the sky. These auroral electrojets push about a million amps of electrical charge around the poles every second. They can create some of the largest magnetic disturbances on the ground, and rapid changes in the currents can lead to effects such as power outages. In March, NASA plans to launch its EZIE (Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer) mission to learn more about these powerful currents, in the hopes of ultimately mitigating the effects of such space weather for humans on Earth.<\/p>\n

Results from\u00a0EZIE<\/a>\u00a0will help NASA better understand the dynamics of the Earth-Sun connection and help improve predictions of hazardous space weather that can harm astronauts, interfere with satellites, and trigger power outages.<\/p>\n

The EZIE mission includes three CubeSats, each about the size of a carry-on suitcase. These small satellites will fly in a pearls-on-a-string formation, following each other as they orbit Earth from pole to pole about 350 miles (550 kilometers) overhead. The spacecraft will look down toward the electrojets, which flow about 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the ground in an electrified layer of Earth\u2019s atmosphere called the ionosphere.<\/p>\n

During every orbit, each EZIE spacecraft will map the electrojets to uncover their structure and evolution. The spacecraft will fly over the same region 2 to 10 minutes apart from one another, revealing how the electrojets change.<\/p>\n

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NASA\u2019s EZIE (Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer) mission will use three CubeSats to map Earth\u2019s auroral electrojets \u2014 intense electric currents that flow high above Earth\u2019s polar regions when auroras glow in the sky. As the trio orbits Earth, each satellite will use four dishes pointed at different angles to measure magnetic fields created by the electrojets.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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NASA\/Johns Hopkins APL\/Steve Gribben<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Previous ground-based experiments and spacecraft have observed auroral electrojets, which are a small part of a vast electric circuit that extends 100,000 miles (160,000 kilometers) from Earth to space. But for decades, scientists have debated what the overall system looks like and how it evolves. The mission team expects EZIE to resolve that debate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat EZIE does is unique,\u201d said Larry Kepko, EZIE mission scientist at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. \u201cEZIE is the first mission dedicated exclusively to studying the electrojets, and it does so with a completely new measurement technique.\u201d<\/p>\n

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EZIE is the first mission dedicated exclusively to studying the electrojets.<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Larry<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Larry Kepko<\/p>\n

EZIE mission scientist, NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This technique involves looking at microwave emission from oxygen molecules about 10 miles (16 kilometers) below the electrojets. Normally, oxygen molecules emit microwaves at a frequency of 118 Gigahertz. However, the electrojets create a magnetic field that can split apart that 118 Gigahertz emission line in a process called Zeeman splitting. The stronger the magnetic field, the farther apart the line is split.<\/p>\n

Each of the three EZIE spacecraft will carry an instrument called the Microwave Electrojet Magnetogram to observe the Zeeman effect and measure the strength and direction of the electrojets\u2019 magnetic fields. Built by\u00a0NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, each of these instruments will use four antennas pointed at different angles to survey the magnetic fields along four different tracks as EZIE orbits.<\/p>\n

The technology used in the Microwave Electrojet Magnetograms was originally developed to study Earth\u2019s atmosphere and weather systems. Engineers at JPL had reduced the size of the radio detectors so they could fit on small satellites, including NASA\u2019s TEMPEST-D<\/a> and CubeRRT<\/a> missions, and improved the components that separate light into specific wavelengths.<\/p>\n

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NASA\u2019s EZIE (Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer)\u00a0mission will investigate Earth\u2019s auroral electrojets, which flow high above Earth\u2019s polar regions when auroras (northern and southern lights) glow. By providing unprecedented measurements of these electrical currents, EZIE will answer decades-old mysteries. Understanding these currents will also improve scientists\u2019 capabilities for predicting hazardous space weather.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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NASA\/Johns Hopkins APL<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The electrojets flow through a region that is difficult to study directly, as it\u2019s too high for\u00a0scientific balloons<\/a>\u00a0to reach but too low for satellites to dwell.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe utilization of the Zeeman technique to remotely map current-induced magnetic fields is really a game-changing approach to get these measurements at an altitude that is notoriously difficult to measure,\u201d said\u00a0Sam Yee,\u00a0EZIE\u2019s principal investigator at\u00a0the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.<\/p>\n

The mission is also including citizen scientists to enhance its research, distributing dozens of\u00a0EZIE-Mag<\/a> magnetometer kits to students in the U.S. and volunteers around the world to compare EZIE\u2019s observations to those from Earth. \u201cEZIE scientists will be collecting magnetic field data from above, and the students will be collecting magnetic field data from the ground,\u201d said Nelli Mosavi-Hoyer, EZIE project manager at APL.<\/p>\n

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EZIE scientists will be collecting magnetic field data from above, and the students will be collecting magnetic field data from the ground.<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Nelli<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Nelli Mosavi-Hoyer<\/p>\n

EZIE project manager, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The EZIE spacecraft will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as part of the Transporter-13 rideshare mission with SpaceX via launch integrator Maverick Space Systems.<\/p>\n

The mission will launch during what\u2019s known as\u00a0solar maximum \u2014\u00a0a phase during the 11-year solar cycle when the Sun\u2019s activity is stronger and more frequent. This is an advantage for EZIE\u2019s science.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s better to launch during solar max,\u201d Kepko said. \u201cThe electrojets respond directly to solar activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EZIE mission will also work alongside other NASA heliophysics missions, including\u00a0PUNCH<\/a>\u00a0(Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere), launching in late February to study how\u00a0material in the Sun\u2019s outer atmosphere becomes the solar wind.<\/p>\n

According to Yee, EZIE\u2019s CubeSat mission not\u00a0only allows scientists to address compelling questions that have not been able to answer for decades but also demonstrates that great science can be achieved cost-effectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re leveraging the new capability of CubeSats,\u201d Kepko added. \u201cThis is a mission that couldn\u2019t have flown a decade ago. It\u2019s pushing the envelope of what is possible, all on a small satellite. It\u2019s exciting to think about what we will discover.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EZIE mission is funded by the Heliophysics Division within NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate and is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA Goddard. APL leads the mission for NASA. Blue Canyon Technologies in Boulder, Colorado, built the CubeSats.<\/p>\n

by\u00a0<\/strong>Vanessa Thomas<\/strong><\/a>
NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Header Image:<\/em>
An artist\u2019s concept shows the three EZIE satellites orbiting Earth.<\/em>
Credits: NASA\/Johns Hopkins APL\/Steve Gribben<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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