Observations Reshape Basic Plasma Wave Physics
New light has been shed on the invisible forces shaping our near-Earth environment, unveiling a fundamental physical phenomenon. Using a specialized suite of instruments aboard NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale – or MMS – spacecraft, scientists found the first observational proof of a fifty-year-old theory and uncovered new, unexpected complexities in the small-scale dynamics of a type of plasma wave, known as a kinetic Alfvén wave. The results may lead to improved nuclear fusion techniques for generating energy more efficiently.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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Producer
- Genna Duberstein (USRA)
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Science writer
- Mara Johnson-Groh (Wyle Information Systems)
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Visualizer
- Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
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Scientist
- Daniel J. Gershman (University of Maryland College Park)
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Release date
This page was originally published on Friday, March 31, 2017.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:47 PM EDT.