NASA’s EZIE mission passes key developmental milestone; will study electrical currents in Earth’s atmosphere

NASA's heliophysics mission EZIE, short for the Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer, has passed a key developmental milestone, pushing the mission from the design phase to the construction phase, the agency said on Monday.

The mission was approved by NASA in 2020 and is planned to launch no earlier than September 2024. EZIE will study auroral electrojets - intense electric currents flowing about 65 miles above the ground in a layer of Earth's atmosphere rich in charged atoms, or ions, called the ionosphere.

The mission findings will help solve decades-old debates about the electrojets' structure and evolution and, in turn, will open the door to a more complete understanding of Earth's space weather. According to NASA, the same space weather phenomena that power the beautiful aurora can cause interference with radio and communication signals and utility grids on Earth's surface, and damage to spacecraft in orbit.

The EZIE mission comprises a trio of CubeSats, each of which will measure the electrojet current by imaging their "fingerprint." The spacecraft will look at the light being emitted from oxygen molecules below the electrojets at just 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the surface.

It's EZIE!The Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) has passed a key developmental milestone, moving it on to the construction phase. EZIE's three CubeSats will study auroral electrojets, intense electrical currents in Earth's atmosphere.For more: https://t.co/D9RsJ6sc76 pic.twitter.com/EvnDZDVVwB

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) July 11, 2022

EZIE is funded by the Heliophysics Explorers Program, managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will build the satellite instruments while Blue Canyon Technologies will provide the spacecraft and mission operations center, and it will perform systems integration and testing as well as mission operations. The launch and deployment operations for this mission will be provided by Maverick Space Systems.