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Since its launch on March 12, 2015, NASA\u2019s MMS, or Magnetospheric Multiscale, mission has been rewriting our understanding of a key physical process that is important across the universe, from black holes to the Sun to Earth’s protective magnetic field.<\/p>\n
This process, called magnetic reconnection, occurs when magnetic field lines tangle and explosively realign, flinging away nearby particles. Around Earth, a single magnetic reconnection event can release as much energy in a couple of hours as the entire United States uses in a day.<\/p>\n
Over the past 10 years, thousands of research papers with discoveries by MMS have enabled a wide range of technical and scientific advances, such as those about the conditions on the Sun that create space weather, which can impact technology and communications at Earth. It has also enabled insights for fusion energy technologies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe MMS mission has been a very important asset in NASA\u2019s heliophysics fleet observatory,\u201d said Guan Le, MMS mission lead at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. \u201cIt has utterly changed how we understand magnetic reconnection.\u201d<\/p>\n
Studying magnetic reconnection is key to understanding where this energy goes and how it can affect us down on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe MMS mission not only studies universal physical processes, but it also allows us to probe the mechanisms that connect big eruptions on the Sun to things we experience on Earth, such as auroras, geomagnetic storms, and even power outages in extreme cases,\u201d said Kevin Genestreti, MMS science deputy principal investigator and lead scientist at Southwest Research Institute\u2019s Space Sector in Durham, New Hampshire.<\/p>\n
Using four identical spacecraft, MMS studies magnetic reconnection while traveling in a long, oval-shaped orbit around Earth \u2014 a perfect laboratory for closely studying magnetic reconnection.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou 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,\u201d said Jim Burch, principal investigator for MMS at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.<\/p>\n
Magnetic reconnection primarily happens in two locations around Earth, one located on the side facing the Sun, and another behind Earth farther away from the Sun. In their orbit, the four MMS spacecraft repeatedly pass through these key locations.<\/p>\n
Before MMS, scientists only had a limited understanding of magnetic reconnection. But by improving instrument measurement speeds tenfold, MMS has been able to dramatically reshape what we know about the process. To date, MMS data has led to over 1,500 published scientific articles.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, it turned out that the basic theory of reconnection in turbulent regions was wrong because previous missions couldn\u2019t make observations at the level MMS can,\u201d Burch said. \u201cWe also found reconnection in a lot of places that weren’t predicted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Working out new and refined theories of magnetic reconnection was an integral part of the MMS mission from the outset.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the truly groundbreaking findings from MMS is that the heart of reconnection has a well-ordered beat \u2013 even if everything around is turbulent,\u201d said Michael Hesse, MMS theory and modeling lead at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley. \u201cThis shows that precision measurement can decide between competing theories.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mission\u2019s successes have also been a boon to young scientists, who are closely involved with the mission at all levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 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,\u201d Le said.<\/p>\n
To foster young scientists, MMS provides early career research grants to team members. The MMS team also created \u201cLeads In-Training\u201d roles to bring early career scientists to the table for big mission decisions and provide them the experience they need to move into leadership positions. The program has been so successful it is now required for all NASA Heliophysics missions.<\/p>\n
Beyond its scientific achievements, MMS also holds several records. Only months after launch, MMS received its first Guinness World Record for highest GPS fix at 44,000 miles above Earth. It would later shatter this record as it moved into a longer orbit, taking it 116,300 miles \u2014 halfway to the Moon \u2014 away from GPS transponders at Earth. GPS is designed to send signals down toward Earth, so using it in space, where signals are weak, is challenging. By using GPS at high altitudes, MMS has shown its potential for other applications.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis GPS demonstration has been of great interest for the developers of the Artemis missions, which is testing GPS at lunar distances,\u201d said Jim Clapsadle, MMS mission director at NASA Goddard.<\/p>\n
The mission also holds the Guinness World Record for smallest satellite formation, with just 2.6 miles between spacecraft. Over the years, MMS\u2019 four spacecraft have flown in lines and pyramid-shaped formations from 5 to 100 miles across to help scientists study magnetic reconnection on a range of scales. In that time, the spacecraft\u2019s health has remained remarkably well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hardware has proved very reliable, even now, 10 years into flight,\u201d said Trevor Williams, MMS flight dynamics lead at NASA Goddard.<\/p>\n
After launch, Williams and the flight operations team came up with more fuel-efficient ways to maneuver the spacecraft and keep them at their designated separations. As a result, the mission still has about a fourth of the fuel it launched with. This economy leaves enough fuel to continue operating the mission for decades. That\u2019s good news to mission scientists who are eager to continue studying magnetic reconnection with MMS.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have thousands of magnetic reconnection events on the day side, but far fewer on the nightside,\u201d Burch said. \u201cBut over the next three years we\u2019ll be in a prime location to finish investigating nightside reconnection.\u201d<\/p>\n