WASHINGTON — Millennium Space Systems completed the production of two spacecraft for a NASA science mission focused on unraveling the complexities of space weather events, the company announced Nov. 12.

The University of Iowa has received nearly $1.7 million from NASA to fund the OCHRE student-led sounding rocket mission that will study cusp dynamics in the Earth’s magnetosphere and help train the next generation of space physicists and instrumentalists.

NASA delegates visited the University of Iowa on March 7-8 to learn about the largest externally funded research project in institutional history.

The team of University of Iowa researchers and graduate students has been working on TRACERS, which is funded by NASA, since 2019. The two satellites are anticipated to launch in April 2025.

David Miles, a University of Iowa associate professor of physics and astronomy, recently took over as the principal investigator on a satellite mission that will study the near-Earth orbit. Miles is leading the project after the death of UI professor Craig Kletzing in August.

NASA has selected SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, and its Falcon 9 rocket to provide the launch service for the agency’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission.

Associate Professor David Miles has been named Principal Investigator of the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) Mission following the passing of Prof. Craig Kletzing in August.

Longtime University of Iowa physics and astronomy professor Craig Kletzing made big news in 2019 when he won the single largest research grant in UI history.

Craig Kletzing, the easygoing, humble University of Iowa professor who combined a zeal for teaching with a decorated research career in space plasma experimental physics, died on Thursday, Aug. 10. He was 65.