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MMS Mission Overview |
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The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mission- Solving Magnetospheric Acceleration,
Reconnection, and Turbulence (SMART) is the first mission designed to study the most
recent hypotheses based on quantitative data received from spacecraft. It has already been
ranked as the highest-priority mission in National Research Council's 2002 Solar and Space
Physics Decadal Survey.
The magnetosphere is formed by the interaction of the high-speed magnetized plasma
flowing out from the Sun with the Earth’s magnetic field. These plasmic particles protect
us from the Sun's harmful Coronal Mass Ejections (CME). Magnetic reconnection, energetic particle
acceleration, and turbulence are the critical processes that control the existence of the
magnetosphere and can be found in all plasmic systems that occur in our universe.
This video clip shows how the magnetic fields protects us from the Sun's Coronal Mass Ejections.
Coronal Mass Ejections and Aurora
This video clip shows a close-up of a solar flare that was seen on October 10, 1971 by the Big Bear Solar Observatory: Solar Flare
http://mms.space.swri.edu/
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The MMS Mission consists of four identical spacecraft (as seen above) that will study
the Earth's plasmas, electric fields, and magnetic fields in search for detailed
information about the three plasma processes. The primary objective of SMART is to study
the detailed physics of the reconnection process, which converts magnetic energy into heat
and the kinetic energy of charged particles. Scientists will be using Earth's magnetosphere
as a laboratory to research this information to receive the most accurate information.
This research will ultimately tell us what astronomers, as well as many other scientists
in the field, have been searching for years- how "space storms" develop. |
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This mission will be led by Dr. James L. Burch , who is the Vice-President of the
Space Science and Engineering Division at Southwest Research
Institute in San Antonio, Texas. The mission is currently undergoing a selection phase
where SwRI will propose a detailed report about the final product that will ultimately be
used in the MMS-SMART Mission.
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