Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission Launches

NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission launched March 12 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission’s four identical observatories will orbit earth — providing the first ever three-dimensional view of magnetic reconnection –a fundamental process that occurs throughout the universe during which interaction between magnetic fields results in explosive energy that can accelerate particles to nearly the speed of light.