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EASY Mission: Studying Auroral Electrojets

15:50 recording · AUTO · 2 speakers

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Brief overview

NASA's EZIE mission uses three suitcase-sized CubeSats to finally map Earth's auroral electrojets remotely.

  1. Small satellites enable a manoeuvre big ones cannotEZIE has no propulsion, so it steers by rotating the spacecraft to change atmospheric drag — quick and precise only because the CubeSats are small.
  2. A waking Sun forced the team to replan launchAs the Sun moved from solar minimum toward solar maximum, official forecast models could not keep up, so the team pulled in extra models and experts and modified launch and operations.
  3. Anyone can host a magnetometer for the missionSchools, groups and individuals can request a free EZIE-Mag through a short form and send real magnetic field data back to the science team.
Executive Summary AI
  • Host Andres Almeida opens by explaining that up to 2 million metric tons of charged particles leave the Sun every second at 1 million miles per hour, creating auroras that also threaten satellites and ground infrastructure.0:21
  • Launched in March of 2025, EZIE is three small satellites, each the size of a carry-on suitcase, sent to study the auroral electrojets and improve space weather prediction.0:54
  • Dr. Jared Leisner, the mission's program executive, says earlier studies were very limited because the electrojets sit at about 100 kilometers, or about 65 miles, altitude, too high for local measurement and too far for good remote data.2:41
  • Each CubeSat carries one instrument, the Microwave Electrojet Magnetogram (MEM), which reads an oxygen emission and uses Zeeman splitting to derive magnetic field strength and orientation, and from that the electric current itself.5:11
  • Leisner also invites the public to request a free EZIE-Mag magnetometer at easymag.jhu.edu and contribute ground magnetic data, and he names pitching himself to run the heliophysics Decadal Survey, about five and a half years ago, as his own giant leap.11:37
Key Quote
“Every second, up to 2 million metric tons of charged particles stream from the Sun at 1 million miles per hour.”
— Andres Almeida0:21
Key Quote
“When eruptions from the surface of the Sun point toward Earth, these particles flow into our upper atmosphere and create electrical currents over the poles, triggering spectacular auroras.”
— Andres Almeida0:30
Key Quote
“So the electrojets are a key piece of this puzzle.”
— Jared Leisner2:30