NASA's new EZIE mission will study Earth's auroras from space

For centuries, people have been amazed by auroras, which light up the polar skies in glowing shades of green, red, and purple. But these lights reflect more than just beauty – they signify the powerful forces shaping space weather.

Auroras occur when the Sun’s charged particles hit Earth’s upper atmosphere. But another invisible force also plays a key role in space weather events.

Electrojets are massive electrical currents that flow around Earth’s poles, carrying nearly a million amps per second. When they change, they can disrupt communication, affect satellites, and even cause power outages.

Scientists still have many questions about how these currents form, shift, and interact with Earth’s magnetic field.

EZIE’s mission to study electrojets

To find answers, NASA is preparing to launch a new mission: the Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE). This ambitious project will use a trio of CubeSats to study electrojets in unprecedented detail.

Scientists hope that EZIE’s observations will lead to better space weather forecasts, helping protect astronauts, satellites, and power grids on Earth.

Auroral electrojets are part of a vast electrical circuit that stretches nearly 100,000 miles from Earth into space. As solar wind interacts with our planet’s magnetic field, it generates currents that flow through the upper atmosphere, particularly in the polar regions.

These currents can shift rapidly, causing sudden changes in Earth’s magnetic field that ground-based systems may struggle to handle.

“EZIE is the first mission dedicated exclusively to studying the electrojets, and it does so with a completely new measurement technique,” said Larry Kepko, EZIE mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Previous studies of electrojets relied on ground-based observations and scattered satellite data. While these efforts provided valuable insights, they left many aspects of the electrojets’ behavior unclear.

EZIE’s mission is to fill these gaps and provide a more complete picture of how these powerful currents evolve.

Observing the behavior of electrojets

The EZIE mission will deploy three small CubeSats, each about the size of a carry-on suitcase, into a synchronized orbit around Earth. These satellites will travel in a “string-of-pearls” formation, following one another as they pass over the poles at an altitude of 350 miles.

Each CubeSat will observe the same region of the atmosphere at slightly different times – anywhere from two to ten minutes apart – allowing scientists to track how electrojets change over short periods.

Each satellite carries a Microwave Electrojet Magnetogram, a sophisticated instrument designed to measure the strength and direction of electrojet currents. Developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, this instrument detects microwave emissions from oxygen molecules in the atmosphere.

Normally, these molecules emit microwaves at a frequency of 118 gigahertz, but when influenced by strong magnetic fields – such as those produced by electrojets – this emission line splits in a process known as Zeeman splitting.

By analyzing this effect, EZIE can determine how electrojets behave in real time.

Advancing space weather science

One of the biggest challenges in studying electrojets is their location. They flow through a region of the atmosphere too high for balloons to reach yet too low for traditional satellites to dwell for long periods.

EZIE’s approach solves this problem by using a remote-sensing technique that allows it to measure electrojets from space without needing to fly directly through them.

“The utilization of the Zeeman technique to remotely map current-induced magnetic fields is really a game-changing approach,” said Sam Yee, EZIE’s principal investigator at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

The technology used in EZIE’s instruments has been refined through past NASA missions, such as TEMPEST-D and CubeRRT.

These earlier efforts focused on Earth’s weather systems, but their advancements in radio detection and signal processing have now been adapted for space weather research.

A global citizen science initiative

NASA is also involving students and volunteers in the EZIE mission. Through a citizen science initiative, dozens of EZIE magnetometer kits will be distributed to students in the U.S. and volunteers worldwide.

These participants will measure magnetic field variations from the ground, allowing researchers to compare data from Earth with EZIE’s space-based observations.

“EZIE scientists will be collecting magnetic field data from above, and the students will be collecting magnetic field data from the ground,” said Nelli Mosavi, EZIE project manager at APL.

By engaging the public, the experts hope to inspire the next generation of scientists while also improving their research through a global network of observations.

Launching during solar maximum

EZIE will launch in March of 2025 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The mission is set to coincide with the peak of the Sun’s 11-year activity cycle, known as solar maximum. This timing is significant, as solar storms and increased Sun activity intensify auroral electrojets, making them easier to study.

“It’s better to launch during solar max,” said Kepko. “The electrojets respond directly to solar activity.”

By launching at this time, EZIE will have the best chance of capturing the strongest electrojet events, providing more detailed and dynamic data for scientists to analyze.

Exploring the Sun’s powerful influence

EZIE will work alongside other upcoming NASA missions, including PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere), which will investigate how material from the Sun’s atmosphere transforms into the solar wind.

Together, these missions will expand our understanding of the Sun’s influence on Earth and the space environment.

The project also highlights the growing role of CubeSats in space research. These small, cost-effective satellites allow scientists to conduct cutting-edge research that would have been impossible a decade ago.

“This is a mission that couldn’t have flown a decade ago,” Kepko said. “It’s pushing the envelope of what is possible, all on a small satellite. It’s exciting to think about what we will discover.”

New era of space weather monitoring

Managed by NASA’s Explorers Program Office, the EZIE mission is funded by NASA’s Heliophysics Division and led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

By unlocking the mysteries of auroral electrojets, EZIE could revolutionize our ability to predict and mitigate the effects of space weather.

From protecting astronauts in orbit to safeguarding power grids on Earth, the mission’s findings could have lasting impacts on both science and daily life.

As EZIE begins its mission, it will uncover new details about the hidden forces shaping Earth and its connection to the Sun.

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