“We're
not setting out here to solve space weather. We're setting out to learn the
fundamental features of magnetic reconnection because that's what drives space
weather”
Principal investigator
Jim Burch from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio commenting on NASA’
MMS (Magnetospheric Multiscale Spacecraft) mission
NASA,
in a bid to get clear picture of our earth's Magnetosphere, has gone into the
Stratosphere and beyond.
On
Friday March 13th 2015 NASA launched the US$1.1 billion mission MMS
(Magnetospheric Multiscale Spacecraft) to study the interaction between the
Earth's Magnetic Field and the Sun's Magnetic Field as reported in the
article “NASA
launches four Spacecraft to solve magnetic mystery”, published Mar 13, 2015
by Marcia Dunn, Physorg.
The
four (4) satellites were carried aloft on an unmanned Atlas-Centaur rocket in a
picture perfect launch as shown below.
The MMS will assume oblong orbits in the
magnetosphere and are to fly in a tetrahedral pyramid formation separated by
distances of 10 km (6 miles) to 402 km (250 miles) apart as noted in the
article “NASA
spacecraft in Earth's orbit, preparing to study magnetic reconnection”,
published March 13, 2015, Phys.org.
This so that they can capture a 3D view of the
Magnetic field interaction between the Sun and the Earth with the highest
resolution possible, which the NASA scientists refer to as Magnetic
Reconnection. The MMS is on a two (2) year mission with the purpose of helping scientists
better understand Magnetic Reconnection and how it affects Space Weather.
The
mission objectives of the MMS are very similar to that of the three (3) Swarm
Satellites that were launched by the ESA (European Space Agency) in November
2013.
The
three (3) Swarm Satellites mission is to collect Magnetic field strengths for
the Earth's Magnetosphere as described in my blog article
entitled “ESA's
Swarm Says the Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening - How Weakening Magnetic
Field results in hotter Summer Days and Hurricanes in Christmas 2014”.
So
what exactly is Magnetic Reconnection? And why is it important to the Earth's
Weather?
NASA's Magnetospheric
Multiscale Spacecraft - How the Sun's Magnetic Personality influences the
Earth's Weather
Magnetic Reconnection is the interaction of the Earth and the Sun's Magnetic Field in such a
manner that they momentarily attract and then repel each other, as per Lenz's
Law, with Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) being the
result as explained in the video below.
This
interaction between the Sun's Magnetic field and the Earth Magnetic field is
what funnels the charged particles ejected from the Solar Flares towards to
North and South Poles, creating the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis respectively.
Magnetic
Reconnection is also the same phenomenon that was used by team of scientists
led by Joachim Saur of the University of Cologne in Germany to deduce that Jupiter's moon Ganymede has a
subterranean salty ocean as explained in my blog article
entitled “University
of Cologne use Ganymede’s Aurora to find Underground Salty Ocean – How Lenz’s
Law causes rocking Aurora from Diamagnetic Salt Water”.
This
process drives the respective aurora and charged particle storms that can disrupt
Transmission lines and Telecommunications Satellites and systems on the
Earth.
NASA's Magnetospheric
Multiscale Spacecraft - Specs of the Tetrahedral Satellite Constellation with
an Electron-scale Resolution
The
four (4) MMS resemble a toroidal or donut shape but made in an octagonal shape
with a distance across the flats of 3.35 m (11 feet) and a height of 1.22 m (4
feet). They’re really heavy too, weighing 1,360.79 kg (3,000 lb) apiece and during
launch, they were arranged in much the same way one would stack used Tyres.
Due to their combined weight of 5443.16 kg (12,000 lb), the Atlas-Centaur rocket was needed to lift this heavy payload into orbit. After it reached its designated trajectory, each of the MMS was separated from the launch bay roughly an hour after launch, with each MMS being separated from the Atlas-Centaur rocket in five (5) minute intervals.
Within
a few days, the booms on these Spacecraft will be extended, making the total
surface area of each of the MMS is as large as a baseball field.
After a five (5) month check
out of each of the MMS one hundred (100) or so sensors, the gathering of
data relating to the interaction of the Sun and the Earth's Magnetic Field will
begin in the Summer of 2015. These measurements will be of an electron-level
resolution, much higher than previous heliophysics missions.
So, have anything exciting
doing this summer? Why not keep tabs on NASA's MMS Mission to learn more about
Space Weather, Aurora Borealis, Aurora Australis and the other phenomenon that occur
when Magnetic Personalities collide.
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