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NASA will launch the Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (Ezie) mission in March to study the powerful currents known as Electrojets.
These currents can carry amplifiers with up to 1 million charges per second, affecting space communications, power grids, and astronaut safety, and play a key role in space weather. By mapping these electrojets, NASA aims to help improve weather forecasts in space and mitigate their impact on the Earth.
The Ezie mission includes three Cubesats, each of which is the size of a carry-on suitcase, flying from pole to pole towards approximately 550 kilometers of the Earth. These small satellites observe electrojets flowing into the ionosphere about 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
The spacecraft uses techniques that involve measuring microwave radiation from oxygen molecules in the atmosphere affected by the magnetic fields of an electrojet.
Each Cubesat is equipped with a microwave electro-jet magnetogram. This carries an instrument that allows us to observe the Zeeman effect, in which the magnetic field from the electrojet causes the splitting of microwave emissions from the oxygen molecules.
The strength and orientation of these magnetic fields help scientists understand the structure and evolution of electrojets.
The technology, developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), has been miniaturized for use with small satellites and has previously been applied to missions such as Tempest-D and Cubert.
Sam Yi, the lead researcher at Ezzy at Johns Hopkins’ Institute for Applied Physics (APL), called the Zeeman technique for studying areas of space that are difficult to access directly, a “game-changing approach.”
It’s too expensive for balloons, but too low for traditional satellites. This new approach allows scientists to make important measurements of electrojets at previously undiscovered altitudes.
The mission will also involve citizen scientists by distributing Ezie-Mag Magnetometer kits to US students and volunteers around the world.
These participants collect magnetic field data from the ground and compare it with spacecraft measurements, adding valuable data layers to the research.
The Ezie Cubesats will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as part of the Transporter-13 Rideshare mission.
Because the electrojet is closely linked to solar activity at its peak during this phase, the timing of launch at the solar maximum stage of the 11-year solar cycle is beneficial.
Ezzy is part of NASA’s broader efforts to study weather in spaces and collaborates with other missions such as Punch (such as a polar meter to unify the Corona and Heliosphere).
This mission is a cost-effective and groundbreaking example of how small cubesats can enable important scientific discoveries.
“This mission couldn’t fly 10 years ago,” said Dan Kepko, a member of the Ezie team. “It’s pushing through the envelope of what’s possible with a small satellite.”
Funded by NASA’s Heliophysics Division and managed by NASA Goddard’s Explorers Program Office, Ezie Mission is led by APL and built by Blue Canyon Technologies in Boulder, Colorado.
This pioneering mission is intended to promote understanding of Earth-San’s connections and help protect human infrastructure from the effects of space weather.
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