NASA Goddard Invites Social Media for MMS Mission Tour

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Mar 05, 2015, 02:48 ET

GREENBELT, Md., March 5, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Social media users are invited to a one-day NASA Social event on March 12, 2015, to tour the facilities where the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission was designed, built and tested at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. The event will take place hours before the mission's launch the night of March 12, scheduled for no earlier than 10:44 p.m. EDT.

The MMS mission will launch four identical spacecraft into orbit around Earth to study magnetic reconnection, one of the most important, mysterious and powerful processes in space weather. The spacecraft will orbit our planet in formation, flying through Earth's own magnetosphere, using it as a laboratory to study this universal phenomenon.

Magnetic reconnection is the process by which magnetic fields collide, causing massive explosions of energy. These violent explosions are responsible for space weather events, such as eruptive solar flares, that affect many modern technological systems and can lead to communication blackouts and other disruptions.

NASA Social participants will have the opportunity to:

Get a behind-the-scenes look at the facilities at Goddard where MMS was built, including the world's largest clean room
Speak with NASA representatives about the mission and the facilities
Engage with fellow space enthusiasts who are active on social media

Social media users interested in attending the event should contact Karl Hille by March 3, 2015, at 301-286-8733 or by email at [email protected]. Space is limited. Be sure to include your Twitter handle or other social media websites, a paragraph explaining why you should come visit Goddard and your contact information.

For more information about the MMS mission, visit:
www.nasa.gov/mms

For more information and directions to the NASA Goddard Visitor Center, visit:
www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/visitor/home/index.html
www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/visitor/directions/index.html

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SOURCE NASA