Zoom in to MMS and Magnetopause Reconnection

From a wide view of the MMS orbit, this visualization zooms down to the four spacecraft as they move between the magnetopause and bow shock. Along the track of each spacecraft we see the measured magnetic field vectors (magenta arrows) and the measured current vectors (green arrows). The energetic event of interest occurs at clock time of 09:03:54.3 TAI. The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission consists of four identical satellites that traverse various regions of Earth in this region. The energetic event of interest occurs at clock time of 09:03:54.3 TAI. This version has a lower time resolution (0.15 seconds per frame) so some detail is lost. This visualization is frame-synchronized with the animated graph. From a wide view of the MMS orbit, this visualization zooms down to the four spacecraft as they move between the magnetopause and bow shock. Along the track of each spacecraft we see the measured magnetic field vectors (magenta arrows) and the measured current vectors (green arrows). The energetic event of interest occurs at clock time of 09:03:54.3 TAI. From a wide view of the MMS orbit, this visualization zooms down to the four spacecraft as they move between the magnetopause and bow shock. Along the track of each spacecraft we see the measured magnetic field vectors (magenta arrows) and the measured current vectors (green arrows). The energetic event of interest occurs at clock time of 09:03:54.3 TAI. Animated plot of current measured by the MMS spacecraft. This animation is frame-synchronized with the DataTour visualization above. It also plots the data at a higher time-resolution than DataTour. Colors correspond to the spacecraft doing the measurement. Red=MMS1, blue=MMS2, cyan=MMS3, yellow=MMS4.

Visualization of the spacecraft orbit transition from apogee at the dayside magnetopause to the nightside magnetopause. Completing its study of magnetic reconnection at the boundary between Earth and the sun, the MMS spacecraft fleet transitions its orbit to studying magnetospheric events near the shadow of Earth.Current scheduled maneuver times (subject to change) are:February 1, 2017: Resize perigee (the point on the orbit closest to Earth) to 60kmFebruary 9, 2017: First apogee (point on the orbit farthest from Earth) raising maneuverApril 8, 2017: Final apogee raising maneuverApril 16, 2017: Perigee resizingApril 26, 2017: Reinitializing formation flyingThe magnetosphere boundary represents a point of balance between the pressure of the solar wind passing Earth and the outward magnetic pressure of Earth s magnetic field. The location in this visualization is representative at may not accurately reflect the position relative to the spacecraft at any given future time. MMS formation flying mode passing across the dayside magnetopause. Apogee-raising maneuvers begin. The individual spacecraft spread out along the orbit. More apogee raising maneuvers. Giving each other lots of room... Finishing up apogee-raising boosts. Moving back into formation flying.

Fly along with MMS satellite configuration with particle and field measurements. In this data visualization, we fly along with the MMS spacecraft in tetrahedral formation. The mesh structure in the distance is the magnetopause.Each image frame corresponds to a time step of 30 milliseconds, one of the faster data sampling modes for MMS. The arrows represent the data collected by the spacecraft. To better comprehend changes as the spacecraft moves along, the data are allowed to along the spacecraft trail. The length of the vectors represent the relative magnitude of the vector. However, the electron and proton vectors are scaled so equal velocities correspond to vectors of equal magnitude.Magenta represents the direction and magnitude of the magnetic field at the spacecraft position.Yellow represents the direction and magnitude of the bulk motion (total average) velocity of the electrons measured at the spacecraft position.Blue represents the direction and magnitude of the bulk motion (total average) velocity of the protons measured at the spacecraft position.

A slow fly-around of the MMS tetrahedral formation to better view the 3-dimensional structure of the data. In this data visualization, we fly around with the MMS spacecraft in tetrahedral formation. The mesh structure in the distance is the magnetopause.Each image frame corresponds to a time step of 30 milliseconds, one of the faster data sampling modes for MMS. The arrows represent the data collected by the spacecraft. To better comprehend changes as the spacecraft moves along, the data are allowed to along the spacecraft trail. The length of the vectors represent the relative magnitude of the vector. However, the electron and proton vectors are scaled so equal velocities correspond to vectors of equal magnitude.Magenta represents the direction and magnitude of the magnetic field at the spacecraft position.Yellow represents the direction and magnitude of the bulk motion (total average) velocity of the electrons measured at the spacecraft position.Blue represents the direction and magnitude of the bulk motion (total average) velocity of the protons measured at the spacecraft position.

This short video outlines the MMS mission and its first results. Since it launched, MMS has made more than 4,000 trips through the magnetic boundaries around Earth, each time gathering information about the way the magnetic fields and particles move. A surprising result was that at the moment of interconnection between the sun’s magnetic field lines and those of Earth the crescents turned abruptly so that the electrons flowed along the field lines. By watching these electron tracers, MMS made the first observation of the predicted breaking and interconnection of magnetic fields in space. Credit: NASA/GSFCWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. Like sending sensors up into a hurricane, NASA has flown four spacecraft through an invisible maelstrom in space, called magnetic reconnection. Magnetic reconnection is one of the prime drivers of space radiation and so it is a key factor in the quest to learn more about our space environment and protect our spacecraft and astronauts as we explore farther and farther from Earth. A new paper printed on May 12 in Science, provides the first observations from inside a magnetic reconnection event. The research shows that magnetic reconnection is dominated by the electrons in space and the physics that drives them – thus providing the first ever information for what powers this fundamental process in nature. The effects of this sudden release of particles and energy – such as giant eruptions on the sun, the aurora, radiation storms in near-Earth space, high energy cosmic particles that come from other galaxies -- have been observed throughout the solar system and beyond. But we have never been able to witness this phenomenon of magnetic reconnection directly. Satellites have observed tantalizing glances of particles speeding by, but not the impetus -- like seeing the debris flung out from a tornado, but never seeing the storm itself. MMS is made of four identical spacecraft that launched in March 2015. They fly in a pyramid formation to create a full 3-dimensional map of any phenomena it observes. On October 16, 2015, the spacecraft traveled straight through a magnetic reconnection event at the boundary where Earth’s magnetic field bumps up against the sun’s magnetic field. Artist depiction of the MMS spacecraft. Credit: NASA/GSFC Animation depicting magnetic reconnection, when magnetic field lines connect and disconnect, explosively transferring energy. Credit: NASA/GSFC This numerical simulation represents the event observed with MMS. It shows magnetic field lines in black with the background color denoting the electric current density directed out of the plane. Red regions have stronger electric currents. The breaking of magnetic fields in these high current regions is magnetic reconnection. In the event observed by MMS, Earth would be to the left and the Sun would be far to the right. The spacecraft crossed through the region where reconnection occurs in the vertical direction. The movie is courtesy of Paul Cassak, Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University, with input from Tai Phan (Berkeley), Jim Burch (SwRI), and Jerry Goldstein (SwRI). The movie was made using computational resources from the National Energy Research Scientific Computing (NERSC) Center, a Department of Energy user facility. This infographic describes some of the places throughout the universe where magnetic reconnection appears.Credit: NASA/GSFC