Movie showing the heliosphysics missions from near Earth orbit out to the orbit of the Moon.This video is also available on our YouTube channel. || Helio2015A.MMStour.slate_RigRHS.HD1080i.0500_print.jpg (1024x576) [112.6 KB] || Helio2015A.MMStour.HD1080.webm (1920x1080) [6.7 MB] || WithoutTimeStamp (1920x1080) [128.0 KB] || Helio2015A.MMStour.HD1080.mov (1920x1080) [196.3 MB] || Helio2015_4288.pptx [198.6 MB] || Helio2015_4288.key [201.3 MB] ||

It's hard enough to build one spacecraft, but the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) is building four. Together, the spacecraft will unlock the mysteries of magnetic reconnection, when magnetic fields explosively connect and disconnect, transferring energy. ||

Scientist John Dorelli explains the MMS mission's orbit and why the four spacecraft fly in a tetrahedron formation. On its journey, MMS will observe a little-understood, but universal phenomenon called magnetic reconnection, responsible for dramatic re-shaping of the magnetic environment near Earth, often sending intense amounts of energy and fast-moving particles off in a new direction. Not only is this a fundamental physical process that occurs throughout the universe, it is also one of the drivers of space weather events at Earth. To truly understanding the process, requires four identical spacecraft to track how such reconnection events move across and through any given space in 3D. ||

The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission is a Solar Terrestrial Probes mission comprising four identically instrumented spacecraft that will use Earth’s magnetosphere as a laboratory to study the microphysics of three fundamental plasma processes: magnetic reconnection, energetic particle acceleration, and turbulence. These processes occur in all astrophysical plasma systems but can be studied in situ only in our solar system and most efficiently only in Earth’s magnetosphere, where they control the dynamics of the geospace environment and play an important role in the processes known as “space weather.”Learn more about MMS at www.nasa.gov/mms ||

Visualization of the spacecraft orbit transition from apogee at the dayside magnetopause to the nightside magnetopause. || MMSPhase2b_Pole_Jan2May2017_RE_GSE.slate_GSEtour.UHD3840.3660_print.jpg (1024x576) [103.1 KB] || MMSPhase2b_Pole_Jan2May2017_RE_GSE.slate_GSEtour.UHD3840.3660_searchweb.png (320x180) [72.9 KB] || MMSPhase2b_Pole_Jan2May2017_RE_GSE.slate_GSEtour.UHD3840.3660_thm.png (80x40) [5.2 KB] || MMSPhase2b_Pole_Jan2May2017_Fast.HD1080i_p30.webm (1920x1080) [23.0 MB] || FastVersion (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || MMSPhase2b_Pole_Jan2May2017_Fast.HD1080i_p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [140.4 MB] || FastVersion (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || MMSPhase2b_Pole_Jan2May2017.UHD3840_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [449.6 MB] || MMSPhase2b_Pole_Jan2May2017_Fast.HD1080i_p30.mp4.hwshow [210 bytes] ||

The Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission stacked all four of its spacecraft in preparation for vibration testing. This time lapse shows one image every thirty seconds over three days of work. First, the spacecraft are assembled into mini-stacks, or placed on top of each other in sets of two. To create a full stack, engineers lift one mini-stack on top of another.Vibration testing simulates the conditions that the MMS spacecraft will experience during launch.MMS will study how the sun and the Earth's magnetic fields connect and disconnect, an explosive process that can accelerate particles through space to nearly the speed of light. This process is called magnetic reconnection and can occur throughout all space. ||

In March 2015, NASA will launch four identical spacecraft to study how magnetic fields around Earth connect and disconnect, explosively releasing energy – a process known as magnetic reconnection. The Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission will provide the first three-dimensional views of this fundamental process that can accelerate particles to nearly the speed of light. MMS uses Earth’s protective magnetic space environment, the magnetosphere, as a natural laboratory to directly measure reconnection. Reconnection is a common processes in our universe; occurring in space near Earth, in the atmosphere of the sun and other stars, in the vicinity of black holes and neutron stars, and at virtually any boundary between space plasmas, including the boundary between our solar system's heliosphere and interstellar space. ||

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 ||

MMS Launch CheersMMS team members cheer and clap as they watch live feed of the rocket launch on March 12. || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_youtube_hq_print.jpg (1024x576) [111.3 KB] || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_youtube_hq.00372_print.jpg (1024x576) [103.5 KB] || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_youtube_hq_searchweb.png (320x180) [87.8 KB] || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_youtube_hq_web.png (320x180) [87.8 KB] || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_youtube_hq_thm.png (80x40) [7.2 KB] || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_prores.mov (1280x720) [458.3 MB] || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [16.1 MB] || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_youtube_hq.mov (1280x720) [29.9 MB] || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_appletv.m4v (960x540) [13.1 MB] || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_nasaportal.mov (640x360) [13.1 MB] || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [5.2 MB] || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_720x480.wmv (720x480) [11.2 MB] || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_720x480.webm (720x480) [3.3 MB] || MMS_launch_cheering_at_Goddard_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [2.7 MB] ||

On March 12 from Cape Canaveral Florida, NASA is scheduled to launch the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission, which will provide unprecedented detail on a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection. The process of reconnection involves the explosive release of energy when the magnetic fields around Earth connect and disconnect. These fields help protect Earth from harmful effects of solar storms and cosmic rays. Magnetic reconnection also occurs throughout the universe and can accelerate particles up to nearly the speed of light.By studying reconnection in this local, natural laboratory, MMS helps us understand reconnection elsewhere as well, such as in the atmosphere of the Sun and other stars, in the vicinity of black holes and neutron stars, and at the boundary between our solar system’s heliosphere and interstellar space.MMS consists of four identical observatories that will provide the first three-dimensional view of magnetic reconnection. The four MMS observatories will fly through reconnection regions in a tight formation in well under a second, so key sensors on each spacecraft are designed to measure the space environment at rates faster than any previous mission.For additional visuals regarding the MMS mission and science, please see our MMS Pre-launch Gallery. ||