Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) is a NASA space mission to study the Earth’s magnetosphere. The mission is being carried out by a team of international scientists and engineers from universities and laboratories around the world.
The mission consists of four identical spacecraft, launched in 2015, that orbit the Earth in formation. The spacecraft are equipped with state-of-the-art instruments to measure the electric and magnetic fields, as well as the particles found in the magnetosphere.
MMS is designed to answer some of the most fundamental questions about our planet’s magnetic field and how it protects us from the harmful effects of solar wind. By studying how energy and particles move within the magnetosphere, MMS will provide new insight into one of nature’s most beautiful phenomena – auroras – as well as help us better understand hazardous space weather events that can impact life on Earth.
The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission is providing an unprecedented look at one of nature’s most amazing phenomena – Earth’s northern and southern lights or auroras. MMS is also investigating how our planet’s magnetic field protects us from potentially harmful solar winds. These discoveries could improve our ability to forecast hazardous space weather events that could impact life on Earth.