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NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission Marks a Decade of Discoveries

Launched on March 12, 2015, NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has fundamentally transformed our comprehension of magnetic reconnection, a crucial phenomenon occurring throughout the universe, impacting everything from black holes to the Earth’s protective magnetic field.

Magnetic reconnection involves the tangling and realignment of magnetic field lines, resulting in the release of energy and nearby particles. For context, one reconnection event near Earth can unleash an amount of energy equivalent to what the entire United States consumes in a single day.

Over its operational decade, the MMS mission has led to groundbreaking advancements in both technical and scientific realms, providing greater insights into solar conditions that influence space weather and can notably disrupt communication and technology on Earth. These insights have also been beneficial for the development of fusion energy technologies.

According to Guan Le, the MMS mission lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, “The MMS mission has been a very important asset in NASA’s heliophysics fleet observatory. It has utterly changed how we understand magnetic reconnection.”

Investigating magnetic reconnection is essential for comprehending how this energy disperses and influences phenomena on Earth, such as geomagnetic storms, auroras, and even power failures in extreme cases. Kevin Genestreti, MMS science deputy principal investigator and lead scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Durham, New Hampshire, emphasizes the value of the mission, stating, “It also allows us to probe the mechanisms that connect big eruptions on the Sun to things we experience on Earth.”

The MMS mission employs four identical spacecraft in an elongated orbit around Earth, providing an ideal platform for in-depth studies of magnetic reconnection. “You can measure reconnection in a laboratory, but the scales are so very small there that you can’t make the detailed measurements needed to really understand reconnection,” noted Jim Burch, principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute.

Magnetic reconnection mainly occurs in two regions around Earth—one facing the Sun and another positioned farther away. The MMS spacecraft frequently traverse these locations during their orbital journey, enhancing the understanding of this complex process.

Prior to MMS, our grasp of magnetic reconnection was limited. However, with enhanced instrumentation capable of rapid measurements, the mission has radically reshaped scientific perspectives on this phenomenon. As a result, MMS data has led to over 1,500 published scientific articles. Burch highlighted, “For example, it turned out that the basic theory of reconnection in turbulent regions was incorrect because previous missions couldn’t make observations at the level MMS can.”

The mission’s objectives included refining theories related to magnetic reconnection. Michael Hesse, MMS theory and modeling lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center, remarked on a significant finding: “One of the truly groundbreaking findings from MMS is that the heart of reconnection has a well-ordered beat – even if everything around is turbulent.”

The success of MMS has also benefited early-career scientists, with many actively participating in various roles within the mission. “In addition to its scientific achievements, it has also helped almost 50 students get doctorate degrees and enabled early career scientists to grow into leadership positions,” stated Le. The MMS initiative promotes the development of young scientists through early career research grants and the “Leads In-Training” program, which encourages young talent to engage in high-stakes mission decisions.

Apart from its scientific contributions, MMS has set several records. Shortly after its inception, it achieved a Guinness World Record for the highest GPS fix at 44,000 miles above Earth, later surpassing this by reaching an orbit of 116,300 miles, demonstrating the potential applications of GPS technology at significant distances from Earth.

Jim Clapsadle, MMS mission director at NASA Goddard, commented on this pioneering use of GPS technology, stating, “This GPS demonstration has been of great interest for the developers of the Artemis missions.” The mission also holds the record for the smallest satellite formation, maintaining a mere 2.6 miles between individual spacecraft, which have flown in diverse configurations to optimize the study of magnetic reconnection across various scales. The health of the spacecraft has exceeded expectations, remaining robust even after a decade of operation.

According to Trevor Williams, MMS flight dynamics lead at NASA Goddard, operational strategies have ensured fuel efficiency, leaving about a fourth of original fuel reserves for continued mission longevity. “We have thousands of magnetic reconnection events on the day side, but far fewer on the nightside,” Burch added, indicating future explorations that will focus on unearthing more insights into nightside reconnection as the mission progresses.

Source
science.nasa.gov