Since it launch on March 12, 2015, NASA’s MMS, or Magnetospheric Multiscale, Mission has been rewriting our undersrstanding of a key Physical process Black Holes to the Sun to Earth’s Protective Magnetic Field.
This process, Called Magnetic Reconnection, Occurs when Magnetic Field Lines Tangle and Explosive Realign, Flinging Away Nearby Particles. Around Earth, A Single Magnetic Reconnection Event can release as much energy in a couple of hours as the entrere united states uses in a day.
Over the past 10 years, Thousands of research papers with discoveries by mms have enabled a wide range of technical and scientific advancesSuch as those about the conditions on the sun that create space weather, which can impact technology and communications at earth. It has also enabled insights for fusion energy technologies.
“The MMS Mission has been a very important asset in nasa’s heliophysics fleet observatorry,” said guan le, mission mission lead at nasa at nasa’s goddard space flight center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It has utterly changed how we undress magnetic Reconnection.”
Study Magnetic Reconnection is Key to Understanding where this energy goes and how it can affect us down on the ground.
âThe mms mission not only Studies University Physical Processes, but it also allows us to probe the mechanisms that connect big eruptions on the Sun to the Sun to Things We Experience on Earth Geomagnetic Storms, and even Power Outages in Extreme Cases, “Said Kevin Genstreti, MMS Science Deputy Principal Investigator and Lead Scientist at Southwest Research Inarch Inarch Inarch Inarch Inarch Inarch Inarch Instructure in The Road, New Hampshire.
Using Four Identical Spacecraft, MMS Studies Magnetic Reconnection While Traveling in a long, oval-shaped orbit around earth-a perfect laboratory for closely Studying Magnetic Reconnection.
“You can measure Reconnection in a Laboratory, but the scales are so very small there that you can’t make the detailed measurements Needed to Really Understand Reconnection,” Said Jim Burch, PRINCIPALSOR FOR MMS At the southwest research institute in San Antonio, Texas.
Magnetic Reconnection Primarily Happens in two locations Around Earth, One Located on the Side Facing The Sun, and Another behind earth farther as away from the sun. In their orbit, the four mms spacecraft reepeated pass through these key locations.
Before MMS, Scientists only had a limited undersrstanding of magnetic Reconnection. But by improvement instrument measurement speeds tenfold, mms have been able to dramatically reshepe what we know about the process. To date, mms data has been to over 1,500 published scientific articles.
“For example, it turned out that the basic theory of reconnection in turbulent regions was wrang beCause Previous Missions Couldnys’s Observations at the Level MMS Can,” Burch SAID. “We also found reconnection in a lot of places that wasn Bollywood.”
Working out new and refined theories of magnetic Reconnection was an integral part of the mMS mission from the outset.
“One of the truly groundbreaking findings from mms is that heart of Reconnection has a well-ordered beat-even if always is Around is turbule Nasa’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “This shows that precision measurement can decide between competing theories.”
The mission’s successes have also also been a boon to young scientists, who are closely involved with the mission at all levels.
“In addition to its scientific achievements, it has also helped almost 50 students get doctorate degrees and enabled early career scientists to grow into leadership postions,” LE SAID.
To Foster Young Scientists, MMS Provides Early Career Research Grants to Team Members. The MMS Team also created âLeads in-trainingâ roles to bringing early career scientists to the table for big mission decisions and provide them the experience they needed to move leadership postions. The program has been so successful it is now required for all nasa heliophysics missions.
Beyond Its Scientific Achievements, MMS also holds several recordsOnly month after launch, MMS received its first Guinness World Record For Highest GPS Fix at 44,000 Miles Above Earth. It would later shatter this record as it moved into a longer orbit, taking it 116,300 miles – Halfway to the Moon – Away from GPS Transponders at Earth. GPS is designed to send signals down towed Earth, so using it in space, where signs are weak, is challenging. By using gps at high altitudes, mms have shown its potential for other applications.
“This GPS demonstration has been of great interest for the developers of the artemis missions, which is Testing gps at lunar distances“Said jim clapsadle, MMS Mission Director at Nasa Goddard.
The mission also holds the guinness world record for smallest satellite formation, with just just 2.6 miles between spacecraft. Over the Years, MMS ‘Four Spacecraft Have Flown in Lines and Pyramid-shaped Forms from 5 to 100 Miles Across to Help Scientists Study Magnetic Reconsnection on a Range of Scales of Scales. In that time, the spacecraft’s health has remarkably well.
“The Hardware has proved very reliable, even now, 10 years into flight,” Said Trevor Williams, MMS Flight Dynamics Lead at Nasa Goddard.
After launch, williams and the flight operations team came up with more fuel-efficient ways to maneuver the spacecraft and keep them at their designated parts. As a result, the mission still has about a fourth of the fuel it launched with. This economy leaves enough fuel to continue operating the mission for decades. That’s good news to mission scientists who are eager to continue study magnetic Reconnection with MMS.
“We have Thousands of Magnetic Reconnection Events on the day side, but far fewer on the night “But over the next three years we’ll be in a prime location to Finish Investigating NightSide Reconnection.”
By Mara Johnson-Groh
Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD.
Media Contact: Sarah Frazier
