On March 23, 2023, NASA’s Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) successfully passed its critical design review, marking a major milestone for the project and keeping it on pace for a scheduled launch next year.
EZIE will provide never before seen imaging of the electrical currents that link our planet and the surrounding space.
“We are excited for what we will learn from EZIE,” said Peg Luce acting director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This mission will deepen our knowledge of the Sun-Earth connection and help us better understand the electrical currents that link beautiful aurora to Earth’s magnetosphere. This is critical because the same space weather phenomena that power the amazing aurora can cause interference with radio and communication signals and utility grids on Earth’s surface, and damage to spacecraft in orbit.”
EZIE is funded by the Heliophysics Division within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. EZIE is led by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, which designed and will build and manage the mission, in collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Blue Canyon Technologies.
By Denise Hill
NASA Headquarters, Washington