National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Newsroom

2016

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11.04.16 – NASA's MMS Breaks Guinness World Record

NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, or MMS, is breaking records. MMS now holds the Guinness World Record for highest altitude fix of a GPS signal.

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09.21.16 – NASA's MMS Achieves Closest-Ever Flying Formation

On Sept. 15, 2016, NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission achieved a new record: Its four spacecraft are flying only four-and-a-half miles apart, the closest separation ever of any multi-spacecraft formation.

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07.20.16 – The Magnetosphere Has a Large Intake of Solar Wind Energy

Solar wind forms the energy source for aurora explosions. How does the Earth's magnetosphere take in the energy of the solar wind?

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05.12.16 – NASA Directly Observes Fundamental Process of Nature for 1st Time

Like sending sensors up into a hurricane, NASA has flown four spacecraft through an invisible maelstrom in space, called magnetic reconnection.

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05.12.16 – Magnetic Reconnection Throughout the Universe (Infographic)

Magnetic fields go in, energy comes out.

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03.14.16 – MMS Celebrates a Year in Space

NASA launched the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission on March 12, 2015.

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01.22.16 – NASA's MMS Spotted from Tokyo

Looking like artificial shooting stars, the four Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, spacecraft appear as greenish streaks in this series of photos taken with a DSLR camera from Japan on Nov. 30, 2015, at 2:11 p.m. EST (Dec. 1, 2015, at 4:11 a.m. local time).

2015

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12.17.15 – MMS Delivers Promising Initial Results

Just under four months into the science phase of the mission, NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, is delivering promising early results on a process called magnetic reconnection – a kind of magnetic explosion that's related to everything from the northern lights to solar flares.

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10.16.15 – NASA's MMS Spacecraft Achieve Tightest Flying Formation Ever

On Oct. 15, 2015, a NASA mission broke its own record: the four satellites of its Magnetospheric Multiscale mission are now flying at their smallest separation, the tightest multi-spacecraft formation ever flown in orbit.

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08.11.15 – BARREL Team Arrives in Sweden for Balloon Mini-Campaign

In early August, scientists from the NASA-funded Balloon Array for Radiation belt Relativistic Electron Losses, or BARREL, mission arrived in northern Sweden for a third data collection campaign.

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07.29.15 – NASA's MMS Formation Will Give Unique Look at Magnetic Reconnection

On July 9, 2015 the four spacecraft of NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission began flying in a pyramid shape for the first time.

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06.30.15 – NASA Signs Scientific and Education Agreements with Brazil

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) President José Raimundo Braga Coelho have signed agreements to further research into heliophysics and space weather and to enhance global climate study and educational opportunities.

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06.05.15 – NASA Scientist to Discuss “Understanding Magnetic Storms” at Library of Congress Lecture

The public is invited to a free talk called “Understanding Magnetic Storms” with Dr. John Dorelli in the Pickford Theater, third floor, Madison Building, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. on Thursday, June 11 at 11:30 a.m. EDT.

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04.28.15 – The Fearsome Foursome: Technologies Enable Ambitious MMS Mission

It was unprecedented developing a mission that could fly four identically equipped spacecraft in a tight formation and take measurements 100 times faster than any previous space mission

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04.22.15 – NASA Goddard Team Sets High Flying Record with Use of GPS

After years of hard work building a spacecraft, a mission team anxiously awaits after a launch - will the instruments they've crafted all work as well as planned?

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03.16.15 – MMS: Five Years, Four Spacecraft, Thousands of Inspired Students

Space weather, such as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, which are large outbursts on the sun, can affect Earth's magnetic field.

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03.13.15 – NASA Spacecraft in Earth's Orbit, Preparing to Study Magnetic Reconnection

Following a successful launch at 10:44 p.m. EDT Thursday, NASA's four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft are positioned in Earth's orbit to begin the first space mission dedicated to the study of a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection.

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03.13.15 – Key Tests At NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center Lab Ensure Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission Instrument Operations

As the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission begins operations, scientists and engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center are watching closely as the satellites' 16 Dual Ion Spectrometer, or DIS, flight sensors turn on and start studying the magnetic fields that surround and protect Earth.

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03.12.15 – Launch Begins MMS Mission in Spectacular Fashion

Four octagonal disc-shaped spacecraft are flying in a loose formation above Earth following a brilliant, thundering launch from Florida that lit up the Cape Canaveral region for miles late Thursday night.

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03.11.15 – NASA Goddard Provides Superfast Sensors for New MMS Mission

Scheduled to lift off on March 12, 2015, NASA's new Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission consists of four identical spacecraft that each carry 25 sensors with unprecedented observational speeds.

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03.10.15 – NASA to Investigate Magnetic Explosions

Magnetic reconnection could be the Universe's favorite way to make things explode.

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03.10.15 – MMS: Studying Magnetic Reconnection Near Earth

The Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission is scheduled to launch into space on March 12, 2015.

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03.10.15 – NASA's Independent Verification and Validation Program Hosts Launch Event for Local Middle School Students

NASA's Independent Verification and Validation (IV–V) Program will host seventh-grade students from Barrackville Middle School in Marion County and a mix of sixth through eighth grade students from Mountaineer Middle School in Harrison County on March 13, 2015 to participate in a Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) launch party.

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03.04.15 – NASA Goddard Invites Media for MMS Mission Tour

Social media users and traditional media are invited to a one-day NASA media event on March 12, 2015, to tour the facilities where the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission was designed, built and tested at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.

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02.26.15 – NASA Sets Coverage for Launch of Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission

NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission is set to lift off at 10:44 p.m. EDT Thursday, March 12 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

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02.25.15 – NASA Spacecraft Prepares for March 12 Launch to Study Earth's Dynamic Magnetic Space Environment

Final preparations are underway for the launch of NASA's quartet of Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft, which constitute the first space mission dedicated to the study of magnetic reconnection.

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02.25.15 – NASA Hosts a Pre-Launch Briefing for the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission

After a decade of planning and engineering, NASA is in its last weeks of preparation to launch the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission.

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02.24.15 – UPDATE – NASA Reschedules MMS Briefing to 3 p.m. EST Feb. 25

NASA has rescheduled to 3 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 25, a briefing on an upcoming mission to study magnetic reconnection around the Earth, a fundamental process that occurs throughout the universe where magnetic fields connect and disconnect explosively releasing energy.

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02.22.15 – NASA Hosts Media Briefing on Mission to Study Dynamic Magnetic System Around Earth

NASA will hold a media briefing at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 25, to discuss an upcoming mission to study magnetic reconnection around Earth, a fundamental process throughout the universe where magnetic fields connect and disconnect explosively releasing energy.

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02.18.15 – New NASA Movie on the MMS Mission

On March 12, 2015, NASA plans to launch the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission.

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02.10.15 – NASA Media Accreditation Now Open for Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission

NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida has opened accreditation for news media to attend the launch of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission.

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02.10.15 – NASA Offers News Media Access to MMS Spacecraft Feb. 18

The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observatories will be the focus of a media opportunity at 9 a.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 18, at the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida.

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01.09.15 – NASA Invites Community to Learn about Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will host a Sunday Experiment on January 18, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST.

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2014

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12.09.14 – The Science of Magnetic Reconnection

Understanding vast systems in space requires understanding what's happening on widely different scales.

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NASA | How Will the 4 MMS Spacecraft Launch and Deploy? (Published on Nov 21, 2014)

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.

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11.21.14 – NASA Releases Narrated Animation of MMS Launch and Deploy

In March of 2015, an unprecedented NASA mission will launch to study a process so mysterious that no one has ever directly measured in space.

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11.18.14 – NASA's MMS Spacecraft Begin Pre-Launch Activities in Florida

NASA's second mini-stack of two Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, observatories arrived Nov. 12, 2014, in Florida to begin launch preparations.

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11.04.14 – First Two MMS Observatories Shipped to Florida

The MMS engineering team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., begin bagging the first two Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, observatories with protective wrapping in preparation for shipment to Astrotech Space Operations, NASA's pre-launch processing facility in Florida.

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MMS Launch and Deploy Animation (Published on Oct 10, 2014)

This animation follows Magnetosphere Multiscale (MMS) Mission from launch at Kennedy Space Center through deployment and on station doing science. The MMS mission is 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. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

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09.22.14 – Preview MMS Spacecraft Before They Ship for Launch

We are inviting social media users to apply for a maximum of 25 media NASA Social credentials to cover the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission media day event scheduled for Friday, Oct. 17, 2014, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

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MMS Spin Test (Published on Jun 5, 2014)

The four Magnetospheric Multiscale observatories all undergo what's called a spin test, to learn how well the spacecraft are balanced. It also provides information on how well the mass properties of an observatory can be measured and aligned. This movie shows MMS Observatory No. 4 undergoing the test in May 2013 on the MRC Mark V spin balance machine. After launch, the MMS observatories will spin at approximately three revolutions per minute during normal operations.

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NASA | MMS Mission Trailer (Published on May 15, 2014)

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.

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05.15.14 – MMS Movie Trailer: Four Spacecraft, One Mission - Magnetic Reconnection

In 2015, NASA will launch the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission.

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NASA | The MMS Mission's Unique Orbit (Published on May 14, 2014)

Scientist John Dorelli explains the MMS mission's orbit and why the four spacecraft fly in a tetrahedron formation. This complex arrangement enables scientists to gather data about magnetic reconnection in 3D.

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05.14.14 – MMS Narrated Orbit Viz: Unlocking The Secrets of Magnetic Reconnection

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.

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05.12.14 – NASA Administrator Visits Goddard, Discusses MMS

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden got a firsthand look at work being done on the four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft during his visit to the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on May 12.

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NASA | 3 Days in 1 Minute: Stacking the MMS Spacecraft (Published on Apr 18, 2014)

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.

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04.18.14 – NASA's MMS Observatories Stacked For Testing

Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., accomplished another first. Using a large overhead crane, they mated two Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, observatories – also called mini-stacks – at a time, to construct a full four-stack of observatories.

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04.11.14 –NASA Highlights Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission at Local Fair

Representatives from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., were on hand April 5, 2014, for an outdoor “show and tell” event called the Mini Maker Faire.

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NASA EDGE: MMS One Step Closer to Launch (Published on Mar 26, 2014)

NASA EDGE talks with the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission Team about the final tests for the satellites before they head to NASA Kennedy. Guests include Joanne Baker, Rommel Zara, Troy Cline and Deirdre Wendel.

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03.24.14 – NASA Education Event Highlights Mission to Study Magnetic Reconnection

Despite chilly temperatures and grey skies, 108 local elementary and middle school students and their families gathered March 16 at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Md., for an educational event called The Sunday Experiment.

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03.05.14 – NASA Invites Children, Families to Learn about Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Md., will host this month's Sunday Experiment on March 16 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT. It's a free afternoon for elementary school-aged children and their families.

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MMS Dayside Orbit and Flying Formation (Published on Feb 26, 2014)

This visualization shows the proposed orbits of the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) during the dayside magnetosheath/magnetopause orbit phase. Then it zooms in to show that there are actually four spacecraft flying in a tetrahedral formation. Credit: NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio

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NASA | MMS Engineering Challenges (Published on Feb 25, 2014)

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. MMS will measure reconnection between the sun's and Earth's magnetic fields. We want to learn more about magnetic reconnection because it can affect systems like GPS, radio communication, and electrical power grids.

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02.25.14 – NASA Embraces Challenge of Building Four Spacecraft to Study Magnetic Reconnection

First thing every morning, the engineering team for NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission gathers for a 10-minute meeting.

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2013

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11.20.13 – New Digital Resources Teach Students About NASA's MMS Mission

A new set of NASA resources called iMAGiNETICspace is helping educators teach science and engineering concepts to middle school students in a fun, interactive way.

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08.28.13 – iMaginetic Space!

NASA and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) teamed up to create a host of free STEM-based resources within two digital age storybooks and online teacher companions/guides designed to help students learn about NASA's missions currently studying the sun and its effects on Earth.

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08.06.13 – NASA's MMS Stacked for Shock Tests

Spacecraft must go through a series of rigorous tests before they are launched into space.

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07.15.13 – The Heart of Space Weather Observed in Action

Two NASA spacecraft have provided the most comprehensive movie ever of a mysterious process at the heart of all explosions on the sun: magnetic reconnection.

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06.14.13 – NASA's MMS Achieves Major Mission Milestone

The team completed their first comprehensive performance test a few hours early on observatory number one, an indication that no significant issues were encountered.

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05.30.13 – NASA's MMS Team Assembles Final Observatory

On May 20, 2013, the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., reached an unprecedented milestone.

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02.06.13 – NASA Heliophysics Missions On Display at Aerospace@Annapolis

NASA scientists headed to Annapolis on Feb. 1, 2013, for Aerospace@Annapolis, an annual overview of the aerospace industry held for the benefit of Maryland state lawmakers.

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01.31.13 – NASA's First Attempt At Building Four Spacecraft for One Mission

An unprecedented mission is currently being built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The center is simultaneously building four nearly identical spacecraft for the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission scheduled to launch in late 2014.

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01.24.13 – Working on Four Spacecraft Simultaneously

NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission clean room is buzzing with activity as engineers work on all four MMS observatories at the same time.

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01.08.13 – Cluster Finds Turbulent Eddies May Warm the Solar Wind

The sun ejects a continuous flow of electrically charged particles and magnetic fields in the form of the solar wind — and this wind is hotter than it should be.

2012

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12.13.12 – Instrument Deck Installed on MMS Observatory #2

MMS Observatory #2 will remain at Goddard during the next several months while engineers and technicians integrate additional flight hardware and conduct necessary functional and environmental tests.

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09.11.12 – Students Build a MMS Spacecraft Model Using LEGOs®

With a little help from LEGO® designers, students in West Virginia built a one-foot diameter model of a future NASA mission called the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft.

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09.05.12 – NASA Mission to Study Magnetic Explosions Passes Major Review

On August 31, 2012 , NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission proved it was ready for its next steps by passing what's called a Systems Integration Review (SIR), which deems a mission ready to integrate instruments onto the spacecraft.

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07.02.12 – Hidden Portals in Earth’s Magnetic Field

A favorite theme of science fiction is “the portal”—an extraordinary opening in space or time that connects travelers to distant realms.

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06.08.12 – Instrument Integration Begins on MMS Spacecraft

The decks have arrived. Engineers working on NASA'S Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission have started integrating instruments on the first of four instrument decks in a newly fabricated cleanroom at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

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04.30.12 – Goddard Collaborates on MMS Instrument

Whether it's a giant solar flare or a beautiful green-blue aurora, just about everything interesting in space weather happens due to a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection.

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01.13.12 – Spacecraft Cleanroom Goes Green

When it launches in 2014, NASA's new Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission will give scientists unprecedented insights into a little-understood physical process at the heart all space weather.

2011

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04.29.11 – Goddard Building Instrument To Study Reconnection

Whether it's a giant solar flare or a beautiful green-blue aurora, just about everything interesting in space weather happens due to a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection.

2010

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10.01.10 – Missions, Meetings, and the Magnetosphere Radial Tire Model

Goddard scientist Tom Moore has recently been named Project Scientist for the Magnetospheric MultiScale mission (or MMS), four spacecraft that will launch in 2014 to study “magnetic reconnection” – a crossing of magnetic field lines that can produce solar flares as powerful as a billion atomic bombs and is responsible for magnetic storms and auroras in Earth's atmosphere.

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09.03.10 – NASA’s Magnetospheric Mission Passes Major Milestone

The universe is still an arcane place that scientists know very little about, but a new NASA Solar Terrestrial Probe mission is going to shed light on one especially mysterious event called magnetic reconnection.

2009

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08.31.09 – Honey, I Blew Up the Tokamak

Magnetic reconnection could be the Universe's favorite way to make things explode.

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07.21.09 – NASA's Magnetospheric MultiScale Mission Takes a Step Closer to Solving the Mystery Behind Magnetic Reconnection

NASA is designing a mission to investigate one of the most fundamental and explosive physical processes in the universe - magnetic reconnection.

2008

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12.19.08 – NASA Goddard and University of Idaho Create Solutions for 2 NASA Missions

Pen-Shu Yeh is a senior engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. and a grant technical officer.

2006

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05.12.06 – NASA – NASA Center Will Develop Magnetospheric Multiscale Spacecraft

NASA announced Monday Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., will manage the design and development of four satellites for the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission.