Author Topic: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)  (Read 14205 times)

Offline catdlr

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Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« on: 02/26/2014 10:41 pm »
MMS Dayside Orbit and Flying Formation

Published on Feb 26, 2014
This visualization shows the proposed orbits of the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) during the dayside magnetosheath/magnetopause orbit phase. Then it zooms in to show that there are actually four spacecraft flying in a tetrahedral formation.

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Online Blackstar

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #1 on: 02/27/2014 12:06 am »
There's an article on this mission in the current Space News and it's not good news. The October government shutdown resulted in them not being able to sign a contract for a launch vehicle at that time. As a result, they could miss their original planned launch date by quite a bit, with a subsequent cost impact.

Offline Jim

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #2 on: 02/27/2014 01:38 am »
There's an article on this mission in the current Space News and it's not good news. The October government shutdown resulted in them not being able to sign a contract for a launch vehicle at that time. As a result, they could miss their original planned launch date by quite a bit, with a subsequent cost impact.

The greater impact was the lack of work on the 4 spacecraft during the furlong.
« Last Edit: 02/27/2014 01:41 am by Jim »

Offline catdlr

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #3 on: 04/18/2014 11:07 pm »
NASA | 3 Days in 1 Minute: Stacking the MMS Spacecraft

Published on Apr 18, 2014
The Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission stacked all four of its spacecraft in preparation for vibration testing. This time lapse shows one image every thirty seconds over three days of work. First, the spacecraft are assembled into mini-stacks, or placed on top of each other in sets of two. To create a full stack, engineers lift one mini-stack on top of another.

Vibration testing simulates the conditions that the MMS spacecraft will experience during launch.

MMS will study how the sun and the Earth's magnetic fields connect and disconnect, an explosive process that can accelerate particles through space to nearly the speed of light. This process is called magnetic reconnection and can occur throughout all space.

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Offline jacqmans

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #4 on: 05/09/2014 02:22 pm »

May 9, 2014

NASA Administrator and Media to See MMS Mission Progress

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will get a firsthand look at work being done on the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft during a visit to the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Monday, May 12.
 
Bolden will visit Goddard's Integration and Test Facility where the four MMS spacecraft are undergoing testing. The spacecraft will be in a rare four-stack arrangement inside a clean room after completing vibration testing. The clean room itself will be temporarily altered to allow a close-up view of the approximate 20-foot high collection of four observatories in their launch configuration.
 
A media opportunity will begin at 9 a.m. EDT. In addition to Bolden, MMS project personnel will be available to answer questions about the mission, ground testing and preps for launch.
 
During its two-year mission, MMS will explore the mystery of how magnetic fields around Earth connect and disconnect, explosively releasing energy -- a process known as magnetic reconnection. The four MMS spacecraft will provide the first three-dimensional views of this fundamental process that occurs throughout our universe.
 
Media interested in attending should contact Susan Hendrix or Ed Campion at 301-286-7745/-0697 or [email protected] or [email protected] no later than 4 p.m. on Friday, May 9.
 
Media will need to report to Goddard's main gate on Greenbelt Road at 8 a.m. on Monday. Vehicles are subject to security search at the gate. Valid media credentials are required.
 
For more information about the MMS mission, visit:
 
http://www.nasa.gov/mms
Jacques :-)

Offline catdlr

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #5 on: 05/15/2014 09:15 pm »
NASA | MMS Mission Trailer

 Published on May 15, 2014

In March 2015, NASA will launch four identical spacecraft to study how magnetic fields around Earth connect and disconnect, explosively releasing energy -- a process known as magnetic reconnection.

The Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission will provide the first three-dimensional views of this fundamental process that can accelerate particles to nearly the speed of light. MMS uses Earth's protective magnetic space environment, the magnetosphere, as a natural laboratory to directly measure reconnection. Reconnection is a common processes in our universe; occurring in space near Earth, in the atmosphere of the sun and other stars, in the vicinity of black holes and neutron stars, and at virtually any boundary between space plasmas, including the boundary between our solar system's heliosphere and interstellar space.

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Offline catdlr

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #6 on: 06/05/2014 06:55 pm »
MMS Spin Test

Published on Jun 5, 2014
The four Magnetospheric Multiscale observatories all undergo what's called a spin test, to learn how well the spacecraft are balanced. It also provides information on how well the mass properties of an observatory can be measured and aligned. This movie shows MMS Observatory No. 4 undergoing the test in May 2013 on the MRC Mark V spin balance machine. After launch, the MMS observatories will spin at approximately three revolutions per minute during normal operations.

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Offline catdlr

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #7 on: 10/10/2014 07:31 pm »
MMS Launch and Deploy Animation

Published on Oct 10, 2014
This animation follows Magnetosphere Multiscale (MMS) Mission from launch at Kennedy Space Center through deployment and on station doing science.

The MMS mission is comprising four identically instrumented spacecraft that will use Earth's magnetosphere as a laboratory to study the microphysics of three fundamental plasma processes: magnetic reconnection, energetic particle acceleration, and turbulence.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
Download at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?20214

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Offline Jim

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #8 on: 10/10/2014 08:03 pm »
The sequence as depicted is wrong.  The spacecraft are deployed one by one while attached to the Centaur.

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #9 on: 10/10/2014 09:52 pm »
Looks better this way. Screw accuracy.

Offline kevin-rf

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #10 on: 10/14/2014 12:28 pm »
Just looks sinister, like they are going to take over the world or something ;)
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Offline AnalogMan

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #11 on: 11/08/2014 01:08 am »
MMS: Functional Testing Concluding
Friday, November 7, 2014 - 15:56

A two-day functional test is wrapping up today for the systems on the lower stack of two spacecraft that will make up the four-spacecraft MMS mission. Engineers and technicians at the Astrotech Payload Processing Facility near NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are performing the work as the second set of spacecraft are readied at Goddard Space Flight Center for shipment to Kennedy as soon as next week.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/index.html

Offline AnalogMan

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #12 on: 11/15/2014 12:02 am »
All Four MMS Observatories Now at Astrotech
Thursday, November 13, 2014 - 15:34

The second pair of observatories for the MMS mission have arrived at the Astrotech payload processing facility near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The "upper stack," consisting of observatories No. 3 and No. 4, reached the facility in the late afternoon Nov. 12 and are being removed from the shipping container today. Solar array inspection and cleaning is under way on observatories No. 1 and 2, known as the "lower stack," which arrived at Astrotech in late October.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/index.html

Offline catdlr

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #13 on: 11/21/2014 08:36 pm »
NASA | How Will the 4 MMS Spacecraft Launch and Deploy?

Published on Nov 21, 2014
In March of 2015, an unprecedented NASA mission will launch to study a process so mysterious that no one has ever directly measured it in action. To create the first-ever 3-dimensional maps of this process, a process called magnetic re-connection, which occurs all over the universe, the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission uses four separate spacecraft equipped with ultra high speed instruments.


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Offline kevin-rf

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #14 on: 11/23/2014 02:05 am »
Looks like they fixed the animation for Jim. Though, I wonder if more time would exist between the deployment of satellites.
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Offline Jim

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #15 on: 11/23/2014 03:32 am »
Yes, there is more time between deployments

Offline JH

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #16 on: 11/25/2014 06:24 am »
Jim, do you happen to know how long the systems check out will take before all instruments are brought online? I'm quite interested to see the performance of the DFG MAG vs the AFG MAG. I know ground testing suggests that it has excellent (if slightly lower) accuracy, but you never know until the instrument is actually up there.

Offline savuporo

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #17 on: 11/25/2014 06:53 am »
Love the servos whirring in space...

How is formation flying done here?
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Offline AnalogMan

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #18 on: 12/15/2014 11:14 am »
Processing Status for MMS Mission
Friday, December 12, 2014

Spacecraft for two upcoming missions are undergoing preflight preparations at the Astrotech payload processing facility near Kennedy Space Center. Testing of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission’s upper and lower stacks is going well, including a check of the lower stack’s propulsion system. The upper stack’s solar arrays will be inspected next week. An MMS spacecraft countdown simulation has been successfully completed. The United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster and upper stage for the MMS mission is scheduled to arrive at Port Canaveral aboard the Delta Mariner at the end of next week.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/index.html

Offline catdlr

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Re: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
« Reply #19 on: 03/10/2015 07:16 pm »
Magnetic Multiscale mission previewed

Published on Mar 10, 2015
A pre-launch news briefing on March 10 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida previewed the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, set to lift off at 10:44 p.m. EDT Thursday, March 12 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. MMS will study magnetic reconnection, a fundamental process that occurs throughout the universe when magnetic fields connect and disconnect explosively, releasing energy and accelerating particles up to nearly the speed of light.

Tony De La Rosa, ...I'm no Feline Dealer!! I move mountains.  but I'm better known for "I think it's highly sexual." Japanese to English Translation.

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