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Sciences and Exploration Directorate
Operational

Magnetospheric Multiscale Satellites (MMS)

MMS consists of four identical spacecraft that orbit around Earth through the dynamic magnetic system surrounding our planet to study a little-understood phenomenon called magnetic reconnection. Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process that happens in space, which powers a wide variety of events, from giant explosions on the sun to green-blue auroras shimmering in the night sky.

Launch Date
March 12, 2015
Class
--
Websites
Key Staffs
Instrument

MMS consists of four identical spacecraft that orbit around Earth through the dynamic magnetic system surrounding our planet to study a little-understood phenomenon called magnetic reconnection. Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process that happens in space, which powers a wide variety of events, from giant explosions on the sun to green-blue auroras shimmering in the night sky.

Related Publications

2026. "Energy Partition at a Collisionless Supercritical Quasi‐Parallel Shock.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 131 (3): e2025JA034718 [10.1029/2025ja034718] [Journal Article/Letter]

2026. "Transport of Electrons in Tangled Magnetic Fields.", Space Science Reviews, 222 (4): 51 [10.1007/s11214-026-01303-9] [Journal Article/Letter]

2026. "MMS Insights into Coronal Mass Ejection–driven Sub-Alfvénic Solar Wind at 1 au.", The Astrophysical Journal, 1003 (2): 169 [10.3847/1538-4357/ae5f72] [Journal Article/Letter]

2026. "Compressive Structures in the Foreshock of Collisionless Shocks.", The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 1000 (2): L55 [10.3847/2041-8213/ae53e5] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "Magnitude of Short-wavelength Electric Field Fluctuations in Simulations of Collisionless Plasma Shocks.", The Astrophysical Journal, 992 (104): 11 [10.3847/1538-4357/ae06a9] [Journal Article/Letter]