NASA launches 4 spacecraft to solve magnetic mystery

[webfact]

NASA launches 4 spacecraft to solve magnetic mystery
By MARCIA DUNN

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA launched four identical spacecraft Thursday on a billion-dollar mission to study the explosive give-and-take of the Earth and sun's magnetic fields.

The unmanned Atlas rocket — and NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft — soared into a clear late-night sky, right on time, to cheers and applause.

The quartet of observatories will be placed into an oblong orbit stretching tens of thousands of miles into the magnetosphere — nearly halfway to the moon at one point. They will fly in pyramid formation, between 6 miles and 250 miles apart, to provide 3-D views of magnetic reconnection on the smallest of scales.

Magnetic reconnection is what happens when magnetic fields like those around Earth and the sun come together, break apart, then come together again, releasing vast energy. This repeated process drives the aurora, as well as solar storms that can disrupt communications and power on Earth. Data from this two-year mission should help scientists better understand so-called space weather.

Each observatory resembles a giant octagonal wheel, stretching more than 11 feet across and 4 feet high, and weighing 3,000 pounds apiece. They're numbered and stacked like tires on top of the rocket, with No. 4 popping free first more than an hour after liftoff, followed every five minutes by another.

Once the long, sensor-laden booms are extended in a few days, each spacecraft could span a baseball field.

Principal investigator Jim Burch from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio said measurements will be made down to the electron scale, significantly smaller than previous heliophysics missions. In all, there are 100 science sensors. Primary science-gathering will begin this summer, following a five-month checkout.

The findings from the $1.1 billion mission will be useful in understanding magnetic reconnection throughout the universe. Closer to home, space weather scientists along with everyone on Earth hopefully will benefit.

"We're not setting out here to solve space weather," Burch said. "We're setting out to learn the fundamental features of magnetic reconnection because that's what drives space weather."
___

Online:

NASA: http://mms.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html

Southwest Research Institute: http://www.swri.org


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-03-13

[NeverSure]

It is awesome to watch one of those launch, especially at night. Hearing protection advised.

Because light travels faster than sound, the first sensation is it lighting off at the base. Then there's the roar and shaking of the ground. It slowing lifts off and lights up everything around. Everything is shaking.

It takes a long time for it to get out of sight and it's riveting until it does.

Good luck, NASA.

[Guest]

I always laugh when the person writing a science article uses phrases like "could span a baseball field" ... one of the few sports fields without a regulation size.

You know, most of us could get it if she just used 150 yards (137 Meters)

Oh, and the headline, "NASA launched four identical spacecraft Thursday on a billion-dollar mission to study the explosive give-and-take of the Earth and sun's magnetic fields."

Note to Marcia, that means four rockets were launched.

ONE rocket was launched containing four observatories which will be ejected from the craft one at a time in five minute intervals.

[Bignose]

Your comments are no big deal as they are polite and reasonable, I'm not part of the TV Grammatical Police but for two points you made previously:

"Could span a baseball field" is as good a description as required, it's a light hearted article meant for the general population who would appreciate the actual size as "big" No one really cares about how many meters.

The four "Spacecraft" are crafts that go into space, I wasn't surprised when I read that it was one rocket carrying four payloads, the author was accurate in what she stated.

What gets me about this story (as in many others I have read) is who sits and thinks up these projects? While I consider myself reasonably intelligent and capable, I still struggle to work out who realizes and formulates the theory, who puts together the design and actually puts it down on paper (figuratively speaking) and then who checks all of this to ensure it is credible and do-able?

I struggle to make my toast in the morning, I struggle to deal with some of the AH's I work with and paying bills on time can be a nightmare! I know they are human like me but what kind of minds do they have?

The potential for the human mind is awesome, just a pity that all too often it is used in negative and thoroughly unproductive ways...

[jaywalker]

It is awesome to watch one of those launch, especially at night. Hearing protection advised.

Because light travels faster than sound, the first sensation is it lighting off at the base. Then there's the roar and shaking of the ground. It slowing lifts off and lights up everything around. Everything is shaking.

It takes a long time for it to get out of sight and it's riveting until it does.

Good luck, NASA.

I was born in 1967 & grew up about 65 miles NW of the Cape.

Night or day (though night was always better) launches....we'd watch them on TV & then walk out in the front yard to watch the rest of it.

Pretty cool stuff!

--------------------------

I have a friend that had just taken a job transfer to Titusville (a city right next door to Cape Canaveral for those that don't know) & on his first day driving to work, totally unbeknownst to him there was a space shuttle launch.

FREAKED him out!

Edited March 13, 2015 by jaywalker

[bartender100]

The probe to the dwarf planet Ceres gets there soon, be very interesting if it finds anything out about the strange lights there.

httpmashable.com/2015/02/25/strange-lights-dwarf-planet-ceres/

[NeverSure]

It is awesome to watch one of those launch, especially at night. Hearing protection advised.

Because light travels faster than sound, the first sensation is it lighting off at the base. Then there's the roar and shaking of the ground. It slowing lifts off and lights up everything around. Everything is shaking.

It takes a long time for it to get out of sight and it's riveting until it does.

Good luck, NASA.

I was born in 1967 & grew up about 65 miles NW of the Cape.

Night or day (though night was always better) launches....we'd watch them on TV & then walk out in the front yard to watch the rest of it.

Pretty cool stuff!

--------------------------

I have a friend that had just taken a job transfer to Titusville (a city right next door to Cape Canaveral for those that don't know) & on his first day driving to work, totally unbeknownst to him there was a space shuttle launch.

FREAKED him out!

That's funny. I'll bet it did freak him out. 555

I have a friend who lives in Titusville and that's where I've gone to watch. She has a home right on the St. Johns River and we watch across the river from the yard. Nowhere have I ever sensed so much power. It lights up and shakes her whole house from what I'd guess is about 2 miles - 3 kms m/l.

[bkkjames]

the only thing magnetic about this story is Bignose's avatar. Anyone else agree?

[Seastallion]

" when magnetic fields like those around Earth and the sun come together, break apart, then come together again, releasing vast energy"

I'd learnt that magnetism was a force, like gravity. If you think of the quote above in context of the first law of thermodynamics.....where does this release of energy come from? Something on an atomic/electron scale is happening, which implies...matter is changing? Which matter? Space is almost empty.

[rhythmworx]

All that money spent on searching to understand things.

Yet meanwhile back at the ranch people are starving to death and dying of disease.

Speaks volumes....

Edited March 14, 2015 by rhythmworx

[Mosha]

It is awesome to watch one of those launch, especially at night. Hearing protection advised.

Because light travels faster than sound, the first sensation is it lighting off at the base. Then there's the roar and shaking of the ground. It slowing lifts off and lights up everything around. Everything is shaking.

It takes a long time for it to get out of sight and it's riveting until it does.

Good luck, NASA.

I was born in 1967 & grew up about 65 miles NW of the Cape.

Night or day (though night was always better) launches....we'd watch them on TV & then walk out in the front yard to watch the rest of it.

Pretty cool stuff!

--------------------------

I have a friend that had just taken a job transfer to Titusville (a city right next door to Cape Canaveral for those that don't know) & on his first day driving to work, totally unbeknownst to him there was a space shuttle launch.

FREAKED him out!

That's funny. I'll bet it did freak him out. 555

I have a friend who lives in Titusville and that's where I've gone to watch. She has a home right on the St. Johns River and we watch across the river from the yard. Nowhere have I ever sensed so much power. It lights up and shakes her whole house from what I'd guess is about 2 miles - 3 kms m/l.

I remember a group of British guys who had saved for ages to go watch a launch. Trip of a life time, so they wanted to video it. The set the camera up on a tripod. Aimed it at the pad with something on it. You here the countdown, the camera appears to go crazy. They had aimed it at the wrong pad, and all they got was it disappearing into the clouds at high level.

[NeverSure]

All that money spent on searching to understand things.

Yet meanwhile back at the ranch people are starving to death and dying of disease.

Speaks volumes....

Do you realize how many things that we take for granted today were developed or invented to make this space exploration possible? Do you realize how much of it is used in the ordinary economy? A lot of it makes peoples' lives better every day. Here's the short list of things developed by NASA. LINK

Artificial limbs

Baby formula

Cell-phone cameras

Computer mouse

Cordless tools

Ear thermometer

Firefighter gear

Freeze-dried food

Golf clubs

Long-distance communication

Invisible braces

MRI and CAT scans

Memory foam

Safer highways

Solar panels

Shoe insoles

Ski boots

Adjustable smoke detector

Water filters

UV-blocking sunglasses

[kinmaew]

"billion-dollar mission" and with US style health care if you need a finger re attached that's $50k thanks. Sending rockets into space is more important than people.

[kaorop]

All that money spent on searching to understand things.

Yet meanwhile back at the ranch people are starving to death and dying of disease.

Speaks volumes....

better than the money spent on religions, guns and bombs

at least that is humans progressing forward

maybe we can just sing princes old song?

Edited March 14, 2015 by kaorop

[mania]

" when magnetic fields like those around Earth and the sun come together, break apart, then come together again, releasing vast energy"

I'd learnt that magnetism was a force, like gravity. If you think of the quote above in context of the first law of thermodynamics.....where does this release of energy come from? Something on an atomic/electron scale is happening, which implies...matter is changing? Which matter? Space is almost empty.

I admit I have a wealth of no idea but..I have often thought that magnetism is going to be the final frontier in massive discoveries

As you said it is a force that exists all around us. Magnetic fields extend x distance from all surfaces so there is something to be tapped.

That this force even exists in space as you said is mind boggling. As to where it comes from my guess would be motion. We have to remember we are

like infants when it comes to space...looking at mainly our galaxy yet who knows how many are out there..

We have our compasses here on earth thru magnetism tell us where the northern & southern magnetic pole point is.

They even say that north & south swap/reverse every 0.1 to 50 million years & they have evidence of it worldwide.

I imagine that event is one we might not want to be here for

Edited March 14, 2015 by mania

[kaorop]

All that money spent on searching to understand things.

Yet meanwhile back at the ranch people are starving to death and dying of disease.

Speaks volumes....

Do you realize how many things that we take for granted today were developed or invented to make this space exploration possible? Do you realize how much of it is used in the ordinary economy? A lot of it makes peoples' lives better every day. Here's the short list of things developed by NASA. LINK

Artificial limbs

Baby formula

Cell-phone cameras

Computer mouse

Cordless tools

Ear thermometer

Firefighter gear

Freeze-dried food

Golf clubs

Long-distance communication

Invisible braces

MRI and CAT scans

Memory foam

Safer highways

Solar panels

Shoe insoles

Ski boots

Adjustable smoke detector

Water filters

UV-blocking sunglasses

they ski and play golf on the moon?

[rhythmworx]

All that money spent on searching to understand things.

Yet meanwhile back at the ranch people are starving to death and dying of disease.

Speaks volumes....

Do you realize how many things that we take for granted today were developed or invented to make this space exploration possible? Do you realize how much of it is used in the ordinary economy? A lot of it makes peoples' lives better every day. Here's the short list of things developed by NASA. LINK

Artificial limbs

Baby formula

Cell-phone cameras

Computer mouse

Cordless tools

Ear thermometer

Firefighter gear

Freeze-dried food

Golf clubs

Long-distance communication

Invisible braces

MRI and CAT scans

Memory foam

Safer highways

Solar panels

Shoe insoles

Ski boots

Adjustable smoke detector

Water filters

UV-blocking sunglasses

None of which was found out in space.

If they find another habitable planet someday, they will rape it just like they are raping this one.

Man worships a god he can not see, yet destroys the god he can see.

Pretty much sums up the average homosapien.

This planet belongs to the real animals.

Where would we be in this world without golf clubs, freeze dried food and powdered baby formula?

Edited March 14, 2015 by rhythmworx

[Seastallion]

All that money spent on searching to understand things.

Yet meanwhile back at the ranch people are starving to death and dying of disease.

Speaks volumes....

Do you realize how many things that we take for granted today were developed or invented to make this space exploration possible? Do you realize how much of it is used in the ordinary economy? A lot of it makes peoples' lives better every day. Here's the short list of things developed by NASA. LINK

Artificial limbs

Baby formula

Cell-phone cameras

Computer mouse

Cordless tools

Ear thermometer

Firefighter gear

Freeze-dried food

Golf clubs

Long-distance communication

Invisible braces

MRI and CAT scans

Memory foam

Safer highways

Solar panels

Shoe insoles

Ski boots

Adjustable smoke detector

Water filters

UV-blocking sunglasses

I take your point, and agree with it, that expensive research leads to inventions that help us in ways that were never envisaged.

I also take your point that NASA experiments and research have given the world many cool things.

However, just taking the falseness of the claim that NASA can be even remotely credited with the computer mouse, I have to wonder what else on that list is false.

[Seastallion]

" when magnetic fields like those around Earth and the sun come together, break apart, then come together again, releasing vast energy"

I'd learnt that magnetism was a force, like gravity. If you think of the quote above in context of the first law of thermodynamics.....where does this release of energy come from? Something on an atomic/electron scale is happening, which implies...matter is changing? Which matter? Space is almost empty.

I admit I have a wealth of no idea but..I have often thought that magnetism is going to be the final frontier in massive discoveries

As you said it is a force that exists all around us. Magnetic fields extend x distance from all surfaces so there is something to be tapped.

That this force even exists in space as you said is mind boggling. As to where it comes from my guess would be motion. We have to remember we are

like infants when it comes to space...looking at mainly our galaxy yet who knows how many are out there..

We have our compasses here on earth thru magnetism tell us where the northern & southern magnetic pole point is.

They even say that north & south swap/reverse every 0.1 to 50 million years & they have evidence of it worldwide.

I imagine that event is one we might not want to be here for

As forces, gravity and magnetism can extend through the vacuum of space, but both forces rely on mass.

If energy is being released in the vacuum....where did it come from as a magnetic field has no mass?

I agree that magnetism may be the answer to all sorts of things. I have been mulling a perpetual motion machine that uses the two inexhaustable forces, gravity and magnetism, aligned in opposing ways. I just have to figure out how to shield half the wheel from the upward magnetic pull

[jaywalker]

All that money spent on searching to understand things.

Yet meanwhile back at the ranch people are starving to death and dying of disease.

Speaks volumes....

Do you realize how many things that we take for granted today were developed or invented to make this space exploration possible? Do you realize how much of it is used in the ordinary economy? A lot of it makes peoples' lives better every day. Here's the short list of things developed by NASA. LINK

Artificial limbs

Baby formula

Cell-phone cameras

Computer mouse

Cordless tools

Ear thermometer

Firefighter gear

Freeze-dried food

Golf clubs

Long-distance communication

Invisible braces

MRI and CAT scans

Memory foam

Safer highways

Solar panels

Shoe insoles

Ski boots

Adjustable smoke detector

Water filters

UV-blocking sunglasses

C'mon Dude!

Those were all invented in Thailand.

=============

On a serious note, this does sound like a decent thing to explore...magnetic fields & such.

Very much Copernicus & Galileo & DaVinci thinking.

Just wondering how much all the America haters out there that use GPS all the time contributed to my taxpayer dollar on this advanced study?

Don't get me wrong. I'm a right wing libertarian, but on rare occasion I applaud something my gov't has done.

Can you imagine what an entrepreneur like Richard Branson could do with taxpayer money?

Just sayin'....... The guy's a genius.

[jaywalker]

It is awesome to watch one of those launch, especially at night. Hearing protection advised.

Because light travels faster than sound, the first sensation is it lighting off at the base. Then there's the roar and shaking of the ground. It slowing lifts off and lights up everything around. Everything is shaking.

It takes a long time for it to get out of sight and it's riveting until it does.

Good luck, NASA.

I was born in 1967 & grew up about 65 miles NW of the Cape.

Night or day (though night was always better) launches....we'd watch them on TV & then walk out in the front yard to watch the rest of it.

Pretty cool stuff!

--------------------------

I have a friend that had just taken a job transfer to Titusville (a city right next door to Cape Canaveral for those that don't know) & on his first day driving to work, totally unbeknownst to him there was a space shuttle launch.

FREAKED him out!

That's funny. I'll bet it did freak him out. 555

I have a friend who lives in Titusville and that's where I've gone to watch. She has a home right on the St. Johns River and we watch across the river from the yard. Nowhere have I ever sensed so much power. It lights up and shakes her whole house from what I'd guess is about 2 miles - 3 kms m/l.

Ahhh... the good old St Johns River.

I've caught hundreds of fish out of that river. Mom cooked them just right.

Can you say Lake Monroe & Lake George?

Used to go swing out of a tree into the river in the 80's before everything was illegal near the Crow's Nest off HWY 44 near Deland.

The Crow's Nest bar in Deland was almost as good to me as the Tahitian Queen bar in Pattaya when when I was TRULY a handsome man about 23 years old.

Did you know The Creature From The Black Lagoon was filmed in the St Johns River near Deland?

That movie freaked me out as a kid........Never knew it was in the St Johns back then. Otherwise I'd have avoided swimming there.