WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:04.030
[building music]

2
00:00:04.050 --> 00:00:08.070
[building music]

3
00:00:08.090 --> 00:00:12.080
[drumbeats] >>KATRINA: The Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission.

4
00:00:12.100 --> 00:00:16.110
Designed to study the fundamental physics phenomenon called "magnetic

5
00:00:16.130 --> 00:00:20.140
reconnection," it's a complex conglomeration of advanced instruments

6
00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:24.200
developed by NASA and France, Austria, Sweden, Germany, Japan

7
00:00:24.220 --> 00:00:28.270
and several American universities and research institutes. [swoosh]

8
00:00:28.290 --> 00:00:32.290
And right here at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, we're proud to contribute with

9
00:00:32.310 --> 00:00:36.390
a whole suite of instruments called the Fast Plasma Investigation.

10
00:00:36.410 --> 00:00:40.400
[drums, music]

11
00:00:40.420 --> 00:00:44.430
>>CRAIG: Magnetic reconnection is a phenomenon where magnetic fields come together and essentially merge, releasing

12
00:00:44.450 --> 00:00:48.480
energy. It occurs in stellar environments, our own Sun,

13
00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:52.500
it occurs in planetary environments like around the Earth, and it occurs

14
00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:56.530
in the interplanetary space. For another thing, we're trying to learn how to

15
00:00:56.550 --> 00:01:00.580
harness nuclear fusion as an energy source

16
00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:04.610
and one of the roadblocks is our lack of understanding of magnetic reconnection.

17
00:01:04.630 --> 00:01:08.650
>>KATRINA: So why have we chosen Earth's magnetosphere to study this process

18
00:01:08.670 --> 00:01:12.690
of magnetic reconnection? >>CRAIG: The magnetosphere is a convenient location

19
00:01:12.710 --> 00:01:16.750
to study it. And we need to understand magnetic reconnection in the Earth's

20
00:01:16.770 --> 00:01:20.770
magnetosphere because it has a profound influence on space weather. >>KATRINA: And

21
00:01:20.790 --> 00:01:24.830
space weather near Earth is caused by storms on the Sun that can affect our satellites

22
00:01:24.850 --> 00:01:28.840
and communications, right? >>CRAIG: Yes, you could put it that way. >>KATRINA: How long do we have

23
00:01:28.860 --> 00:01:32.870
to make these measurements? >>CRAIG: Only a very short period of time. The region where the

24
00:01:32.890 --> 00:01:36.890
magnetic reconnection is occurring sweeps over the spacecraft in only about

25
00:01:36.910 --> 00:01:40.930
a tenth of a second, so we have to get our measurements made in that short time.

26
00:01:40.950 --> 00:01:45.000
[drumming]

27
00:01:45.020 --> 00:01:49.030
>>KATRINA: So I'm told that magnetic reconnection happens really quickly,

28
00:01:49.050 --> 00:01:53.070
from the perspective of the spacecraft anyway as they fly through the region. How does the

29
00:01:53.090 --> 00:01:57.080
Fast Plasma Investigation suite of instruments help us to measure this?

30
00:01:57.100 --> 00:02:01.110
>>ULRIK: So on each satellite we have four spectrometers,

31
00:02:01.130 --> 00:02:05.160
dual ion spectrometers and dual electron

32
00:02:05.180 --> 00:02:09.170
spectrometers, and as the satellite goes around, we can very quickly all the way

33
00:02:09.190 --> 00:02:13.200
around the satellite capture the events. >>KATRINA: So the dual electron spectrometer

34
00:02:13.220 --> 00:02:17.250
is developed here at Goddard. What exactly does that measure? >>ULRIK: They're measuring the energy,

35
00:02:17.270 --> 00:02:21.270
the direction, and the abundance of the electrons, how many electrons there are there.

36
00:02:21.290 --> 00:02:25.320
>>KATRINA: Could you show me a little bit about how it works? >>ULRIK: The instrument has this box at the end,

37
00:02:25.340 --> 00:02:29.360
here which is our electronics box, where we have all the power supplies and the controls

38
00:02:29.380 --> 00:02:33.420
for the instrument. [instrument moving] And you can see the

39
00:02:33.440 --> 00:02:37.430
aperture opening here of one of the sensor heads, and that enables, that opening goes

40
00:02:37.450 --> 00:02:41.480
180 degrees around. >>KATRINA: So you have four of these instruments

41
00:02:41.500 --> 00:02:45.500
on each of the four satellites, so you have 16 in total of

42
00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:49.530
the electron spectrometers. That's a lot of instruments! Has Goddard ever done

43
00:02:49.550 --> 00:02:53.570
something like this before where it's had to build and test so many

44
00:02:53.590 --> 00:02:57.600
instruments at once? >>ULRIK: To the best of my knowledge, this is the

45
00:02:57.620 --> 00:03:01.660
largest multiple build that has been done at Goddard.

46
00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:05.670
[door opening] >>KATRINA: Well the hard work is about to pay off!

47
00:03:05.690 --> 00:03:09.700
The four MMS spacecraft are set to launch in March of 2015.

48
00:03:09.720 --> 00:03:13.720
Thanks to the incredible talents and collaborations of scientists and

49
00:03:13.740 --> 00:03:17.740
engineers, here at Goddard and across the globe, we're finally on our way to solving this

50
00:03:17.760 --> 00:03:21.780
physics mystery, and uncovering the dynamics of magnetic reconnection.

51
00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:25.800
[boom] [drum drum drum drum] [exciting music]

52
00:03:25.820 --> 00:03:29.830
[exciting music fades out]

53
00:03:29.850 --> 00:03:33.850


54
00:03:33.870 --> 00:03:35.195