Earth  Sun  ID: 4549

MMS Phase 2b: Transitioning to Magnetosphere Science on the Darkside

Completing its study of magnetic reconnection at the boundary between Earth and the sun, the MMS spacecraft fleet transitions its orbit to studying magnetospheric events near the shadow of Earth.

Current scheduled maneuver times (subject to change) are:
  • February 1, 2017: Resize perigee (the point on the orbit closest to Earth) to 60km

  • February 9, 2017: First apogee (point on the orbit farthest from Earth) raising maneuver

  • April 8, 2017: Final apogee raising maneuver

  • April 16, 2017: Perigee resizing

  • April 26, 2017: Reinitializing formation flying

The magnetosphere boundary represents a point of balance between the pressure of the solar wind passing Earth and the outward magnetic pressure of Earth's magnetic field. The location in this visualization is representative at may not accurately reflect the position relative to the spacecraft at any given future time.
 

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For More Information

NASA.gov


Visualization Credits

Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Visualizer
Mara Johnson-Groh (Wyle Information Systems): Lead Writer
Genna Duberstein (USRA): Lead Producer
Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support
Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

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Mission:
Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS)

Data Used:
SPICE Ephemerides also referred to as: SPICE Ephemerides
Ephemeris - NASA/JPL - 2017-01-03 to 2017-05-16
Satellite and planetary ephemerides
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

Keywords:
SVS >> Magnetic Reconnection
SVS >> Magnetosphere
SVS >> Hyperwall
SVS >> MMS
NASA Science >> Earth
NASA Science >> Sun