Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing Company, has begun on-orbit commissioning of NASA’s Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS), following the mission’s launch on Wednesday, July 23.
Millennium designed, built, and tested the two identical TRACERS spacecraft at its factory in El Segundo and is conducting mission operations from the company’s in-house Mission Operations Center (MOC).
“Millennium has enabled TRACERS through design, production, and now into launch and mission operations,” said Tony Gingiss, CEO, Millennium Space Systems. “We are thrilled to be part of this important NASA mission, enabling critical advances in heliophysics science which will help improve our understanding of space weather, ultimately benefitting commercial and national space systems.”
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The spacecraft launched as a primary rideshare payload aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base after completing testing at Millennium’s Small Satellite Factory in June 2025.
“TRACERS is the result of strong collaboration between our team, NASA, the University of Iowa, and Southwest Research Institute,” said Richard Prasad, TRACERS Spacecraft and MOC Project Manager, Millennium Space Systems. “That close partnership was key to delivering two high-quality spacecraft, and we’ll continue working together through on-orbit operations to ensure the mission achieves its science objectives.”
Now in orbit, the spacecraft will work in tandem to study the interactions between the Sun’s magnetic field and Earth’s magnetosphere to advance understanding of how this interaction shapes space weather on Earth.
SOURCE: PRNewswire