NASA's Multipurpose Magnetospheric Mission, known as MMS, began its long journey into a new orbit three months ago. At the moment, the MMS complex is flying in a highly elliptical orbit around the Earth, and the new orbit that MMS is aiming at is twice as far.
In its new orbit, in which the second phase of the mission begins, MMS is slated to continue to highlight the main characteristics of space around the Earth, helping scientists explore this key area through which Earth satellites and astronauts constantly travel. MMS will be specifically targeted to regions where giant 'explosions' – magnetic reconnections occur – in order to capture them with a high level of detail.
Launched back in March 2015, the MMS complex consists of four identical spacecraft focused specifically on imaging magnetic reconnection, a process that occurs when magnetic fields collide and center explosively into new positions. NASA scientists and engineers constantly monitor these devices and keep them in a tight formation, which allows them to travel to regions where the magnetic fields of the Sun interact with the magnetic fields of the Earth.
“This is one of the most challenging missions in terms of flight dynamics and maneuvers,” said Mark Woodard, director of the MMS mission at NASA's Greenbelt Space Center.
In order to form a three-dimensional reconnection picture, the four mission probes fly in extremely dense formation – only 6 kilometers apart. Maintaining such close proximity allows for high-resolution data, but adds additional requirements to MMS flight control, which is challenging in itself.
Sources: NASA
