NASA Hosts Media Briefing on Mission to Study Dynamic Magnetic System Around Earth

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Feb 23, 2015, 04:46 ET

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will hold a media briefing at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 25, to discuss an upcoming mission to study magnetic reconnection around Earth, a fundamental process throughout the universe where magnetic fields connect and disconnect explosively releasing energy.

The briefing, held at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. SW in Washington, will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website.

Called the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, the project will help scientists understand the process of magnetic reconnection, which can accelerate particles up to nearly the speed of light. By studying reconnection near Earth, MMS will help scientists understand reconnection in the atmosphere of the sun and other stars, in the vicinity of black holes and neutron stars, and at the boundary between our solar system's heliosphere and interstellar space.

The mission consists of four identical spacecraft that will provide the first three-dimensional view of magnetic reconnection. Launch is scheduled for 10:44 p.m. March 12, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The briefing participants are:

Jeff Newmark, interim director, Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington
Jim Burch, principal investigator, MMS Instrument Suite, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio
Craig Tooley, MMS Project Manager, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
Paul Cassak, associate professor, West Virginia University, Morgantown

Media who want to participate by phone must send an email providing their name, affiliation and telephone number to [email protected] by noon Wednesday.

Media and the public also may ask questions during the briefing on Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.

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

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and updated scheduling information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

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SOURCE NASA