NASA’s EZIE Spacecraft Scheduled for Launch

Three EZIE spacecraft above an aurora over Earth — This artist’s concept shows the three CubeSats of NASA’s EZIE mission flying in formation to study electrical currents in Earth’s atmosphere associated with auroras. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL

NASA’s EZIE (Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer) spacecraft are scheduled to launch as part of the Transporter-13 rideshare mission with SpaceX via launch integrator Maverick Space Systems at 2:39 a.m. EDT on Saturday, March 15 (11:39 p.m. PDT on Friday, March 14). The trio of EZIE spacecraft will lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

After launch, EZIE’s three CubeSats will investigate intense electrical currents called electrojets that flow through Earth’s upper atmosphere when auroras (northern and southern lights) glow in the sky. Mapping the electrojets will help create better models for predicting space weather phenomena that can affect our technological society.