USA TODAY NETWORK Earth's magnetosphere protects our planet from being constantly bombarded by solar wind that can disrupt satellites, GPS and other technology. To better understand the phenomenon, NASA plans to place twin satellites into orbit that will travel in tandem. SpaceX will serve as the launch service provider for the NASA mission, scheduled for Tuesday, July 22 at the Vandenberg Space Force Base. Update: The launch has been postponed 24 hours to Wednesday, July 23, the Vandenberg Space Force Base announced. No reason was given for the delay. California rocket launches: Why not all Californians are happy that SpaceX rocket launches have increased As with any launch from Vandenberg, plenty of spots around Southern California should offer a decent view of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket climbing into the sky. But for those who want to know a little bit more about the mission the spacecraft is helping reach orbit, here's everything to know about NASA's TRACERS mission. What is NASA's TRACERS mission? Twin satellites to study solar activity Earth's magnetosphere protects our planet from being constantly bombarded by solar wind. Powerful enough to breach the magnetosphere in explosive events known as "magnetic reconnection," solar wind can disrupt satellites, GPS signals and other technologies, and even trigger some stunning auroras in the northern hemisphere. To better understand the phenomenon, NASA plans to place twin satellites – built by Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space Systems – into a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning they match Earth's rotation around the sun. The spacecraft are designed to follow one another in tandem while observing thousands of reconnection events and how the process changes and evolves. The mission is known as TRACERS, a lengthy acronym that stands for Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites. The satellites will fly at a trajectory known as low-Earth orbit – an altitude that allows for things like satellites to circle Earth fairly quickly. In this case, the satellites will travel through the funnel-shaped holes in the magnetic field known as polar cusp that open over the north and south poles.