MMS Launch and Deployment

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  • 
    ID: 11700 Produced Video

    Exploring Earth's Magnetism

    Jan. 15th, 2015
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    In March 2015, NASA will launch four spacecraft to study how magnetic fields around Earth connect and disconnect—a process known as magnetic reconnection. Magnetic reconnections take place on the day and night side of the planet and are caused by the interaction of Earth’s magnetic field with charged particles released from the sun called the solar wind. The four spacecraft, each identically engineered, make up the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission. Flying in a pyramid-shaped configuration, the spacecraft will orbit Earth and pass through areas known to be reconnection sites. Each reconnection event unleashes a massive burst of energy that can accelerate particles within Earth’s protective magnetic environment, known as the magnetosphere, to nearly the speed of light. Sensors onboard the spacecraft will measure the energy and movement of charged particles during an event, providing scientists with the first three-dimensional look at this phenomenon. Watch the video to learn more. ||

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  • 
    ID: 11251 Produced Video

    MMS Science Overview: The Mysteries of MMS

    Dec. 10th, 2014
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Scientists Michael Hesse and John Dorelli explain the science objectives of the MMS mission. || For More Information || See [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mms/](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mms/) ||

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  • 
    ID: 11702 Produced Video

    MMS Launch and Deploy - Narrated

    Nov. 21st, 2014
    (updated Aug. 25th, 2023)

    In March of 2015, an unprecedented NASA mission will launch to study a process so mysterious that no one has ever directly measured it in action. To create the first-ever 3-dimensional maps of this process, a process called magnetic reconnection, which occurs all over the universe, the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission uses four separate spacecraft equipped with ultra high speed instruments. Launching four satellites into space simultaneously is a complicated process. In addition, each spacecraft has six booms that will unfold and extend in space once in orbit. A launch and deployment with so many moving parts must be meticulously planned. Watch the video to get a sneak preview of how MMS will make this journey: The four spacecraft are housed in a single rocket on their trip into space. One by one, each ejects out, before moving into a giant pyramid-shaped configuration. Next each spacecraft deploys its six booms. Once in orbit, MMS will fly through regions near Earth where this little-understood process of magnetic reconnection occurs. Magnetic reconnection happens in thin layers just miles thick, but can tap into enough power at times to create gigantic explosions many times the size of Earth. Reconnection happens when magnetic field lines explosively realign and release massive bursts of energy, while hurling particles out at nearly the speed of light in all directions. Magnetic reconnection powers eruptions on the sun and – closer to home – triggers the flow of material and energy from interplanetary space into near-Earth space. The MMS orbit will carry the four spacecraft through reconnection regions near Earth, using this nearby natural laboratory to better understand how reconnection occurs everywhere in space. For more information about MMS, visit: www.nasa.gov/mms ||

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