NASA has successfully restored contact with SV1, one of two identical Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS), following communication problems that emerged shortly after its July 23 launch. The agency announced the restoration of contact on September 11th. The other spacecraft, SV2, successfully completed its post-launch commissioning without incident.
SV1 experienced power subsystem issues two days post-launch, resulting in intermittent communication. On August 5th, NASA reported that SV1 only seemed operational when its solar arrays were directly exposed to sunlight. The plan was to attempt communication restoration later in August when solar array alignment would be more favorable. The September 11th update, the first since August 5th, offered no further details on the nature of the problem. The mission team is currently focused on recovering the spacecraft and initiating science operations, according to NASA.
The TRACERS mission utilizes two spacecraft traversing the same region of space, separated by up to two minutes, to study the interaction between the solar wind and Earth's magnetic field. The impact of having only one operational spacecraft, built by Millennium Space Systems, on the mission's scientific objectives remains unclear.
TRACERS launched as part of a Falcon 9 rideshare mission, alongside several other small NASA satellites, including Athena EPIC (Economical Payload Integration Cost). Athena EPIC, a collaborative effort involving NASA, the U.S. Space Force, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will test modular satellite designs and an Earth observation instrument.
Initially, after launch, SV1 failed to transmit a beacon signal, complicating the process of identifying and commanding the spacecraft. NASA's September 11th statement to SpaceNews clarified that mission partners and manufacturer NovaWurks confirmed the satellite's location and are actively working to fully restore communications. The agency is also investigating the causes of the initial signal acquisition failure and any contributing factors to the delayed communication downlinks.
In contrast to the challenges with SV1, another payload from the same launch, NASA's Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PExT), is functioning as expected. PExT, which is flying on the York Space Systems-built Bard satellite, is testing communications across numerous satellite networks, including NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system and various commercial services. NASA confirmed on September 9th that Bard commissioning was complete, and PExT commissioning was in progress, scheduled for completion by the end of September.