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. There is a 30-minute window for the launch.
NASA Television launch coverage begins at 8 p.m. NASA TV also will
air a prelaunch news conference at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, a mission
science briefing at 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, and a NASA Social at 3
p.m. on March 12, all originating from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in
Florida.
MMS will study magnetic reconnection, a fundamental process that
occurs throughout the universe when magnetic fields connect and
disconnect explosively, releasing energy and accelerating particles up
to nearly the speed of light. Unlike previous missions that have
observed only evidence of magnetic reconnection events, MMS has
sufficient resolution to observe and measure reconnection events as they
occur. While MMS will fly through reconnection regions in less than a
second, key sensors on each spacecraft are able to capture measurements
100 times faster than any previous mission. In addition, MMS consists of
four identical observatories, which together will provide the first
ever three-dimensional view of magnetic reconnection.
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