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National Geographic : 2015 Oct
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6.2miles Not to scale Earth Earth Magnetic Reconnection The field breaks on Earth’s day side upon contact with solar wind... Magnetic Reconnection The field breaks on Earth’s day side upon contact with solar wind... ... and reconnects on the Earth’s night side. ... and reconnects on the Earth’s night side. Solar wind Phase 1 orbit Phase 1 orbit Phase 2 orbit Phase 2 orbit Magnetic field lines Solar wind field lines Space weather could be the next frontier in fore- casting. Scientists want to understand how forces in space cause events like geomagnetic storms that can disrupt power grids and GPS systems on Earth. NASA launched its two-year Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) last March to study magnetic reconnection, a key driver of what scien- tists call space weather, which “starts with a wind, made up of particles streaming from the sun,” says MMS Program Scientist Bill Paterson. Four iden- tical spacecraft are now orbiting Earth, measuring traces of this physical process. Instead of rain and tornadoes, think jets of plasma energized by this magnetic reconnection. Space weather phenomena are generated as mag- netic fields connect and disconnect, explosively releasing energy. This kind of disruption can scramble spacecraft computers and make the aurora borealis brighter. But “it’s hard to predict,” says Paterson. “Magnetic reconnection is a piece of the puzzle.” — Eve Conant Phenomenal Forecasting national geographic • October 2015 MAKING A CONNECTION MMS’s two-stage orbit will take it through areas in Earth’s magnetosphere, where the magnetic field releases energy as it breaks and reconnects. EXPLORE Science
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