We're in solar storm season. That's because 2025 is the peak of the sun's 11-year cycle of activity. Electrically charged particles fly from our neighborhood star into Earth's magnetosphere, where a powerful magnetic field surrounds our planet. From there, many things can happen – auroras, and even electrical shorts in satellites or power lines.
How does that powerful solar energy get transmitted to Earth? A new NASA satellite series called the Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) aims to fill in the gap. EZIE's three toaster-sized CubeSat satellites will spend at least 18 months circling our planet and watching how "space weather" operates near our planet — and how it can impact our infrastructure.
