The Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) is a NASA scientific mission designed to study the Earth’s magnetosphere, specifically focusing on the process known as magnetic reconnection. Launched in March 2015, the mission comprises four identical spacecraft flying in a precise tetrahedral formation. This setup allows scientists to create a three-dimensional map and collect high-resolution measurements of magnetic fields, electric fields, plasma, and energetic particles. The primary goal of MMS is to understand the mechanisms behind magnetic reconnection, a fundamental plasma physics process that occurs throughout the universe, where magnetic field lines from different magnetic domains converge and rearrange, releasing significant amounts of energy. This process is key to improving our understanding of space weather phenomena that affect satellite operations, communications, and power grids on Earth.
Scientists use powerful laser beams to create miniature solar flares in order to study the process of magnetic reconnection. Scientists employed twelve high-powered laser beams…
In just minutes, a flare on the Sun can release enough energy to power the entire world for 20,000 years. These solar flares are triggered…
Researchers identify the physics that enables rapid magnetic explosions in space. When magnetic field lines of opposite directions merge, they create explosions that can release…
Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have captured a difficult-to-view singular event involving “magnetic reconnection”—the process by which sparse particles and energy around Earth…
Though close to home, the space immediately around Earth is full of hidden secrets and invisible processes. In a new discovery reported in the journal…
Earth’s magnetic field provides an invisible but crucial barrier that protects Earth from the solar wind–a stream of charged particles launched from the sun’s outer…
This visualization shows the motion of one electron in the magnetic reconnection region. As the spacecraft approaches the reconnection region, it detects first high-energy particles,…
Researchers have been studying the near-Earth environment for the better part of a century, but many mysteries — like where the energetic particles that pervade…
Interplanetary space is hardly tranquil. High-energy charged particles from the Sun, as well as from beyond our solar system, constantly whizz by. These can damage…
NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission reveals a bizarre new type of motion exhibited by the high-energy electrons can damage satellites in orbit and trigger auroras. With…
NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission is poised to give astronomers a unique look at magnetic reconnection. On July 9, 2015 the four spacecraft of NASA’s Magnetospheric…
The MMS mission is set to explore the magnetic reconnection at the nose of the magnetosphere, providing the first ever three-dimensional view of this process…
This four minute video outlines the MMS Mission and the phenomenon of magnetic reconnection. NASA | MMS Mission Overview Senior Project Scientist Tom Moore outlines…
Set to launch in 2014, NASA is planning the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission to study X-points or electron diffusion regions, places where the magnetic field of…