NASA | MMS Engineering Challenges

It's hard enough to build one spacecraft, but the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) is building four. Together, the spacecraft will unlock the mysteries of magnetic reconnection, when magnetic fields explosively connect and disconnect, transferring energy. MMS will measure reconnection between the sun's and Earth's magnetic fields. We want to learn more about magnetic reconnection because it can affect systems like GPS, radio communication, and electrical power grids.