Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS)

Category: Heliophysics
NASA's four Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, satellites in a clean room at the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida, where they are being processed for launch.
NASA’s four Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, satellites in a clean room at the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida, where they are being processed for launch. On each side are the payload fairings that will encapsulate the satellites for launch. MMS is an unprecedented NASA mission to study magnetic reconnection, a fundamental process that occurs throughout the universe.

Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) is a NASA mission aimed at understanding how the Sun’s and Earth’s magnetic fields connect and disconnect. These processes known as magnetic reconnection facilitate energy transfers that effect the Earth, Sun and universe.

MMS sensors measure charged particle velocities and electric and magnetic fields. Four identical spacecraft orbit the Earth to study magnetic reconnection and can reach speeds of up to 22,000 miles per hour. The four MMS spacecraft were designed built and tested by engineers and technicians at Goddard Space Flight Center, and the mission was launched on March 12, 2015. As such, various critical discoveries have resulted from MSS.

Through the MMS mission, more information can be collected concerning predicting space weather for future missions and forecasting.

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