More than a month ago, after it achieved the closest separation ever of any multispacecraft formation, the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission of NASA has broken a new record in the Guinness World Record for the highest altitude fix of a GPS signal at 70,000 kilometers above the surface of the Earth.
Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission successfully completed commissioning activities on Sept. 1, 2015, and is now in full science mode. It investigates how the Sun’s and Earth’s magnetic fields connect and disconnect, explosively transferring energy from one to the other in a process that is important to the Sun, other planets, and everywhere in the universe, known as magnetic reconnection.
"The four MMS spacecraft incorporate GPS measurements into their precise tracking systems, which require extremely sensitive position and orbit calculations to guide tight flying formations," the space agency said, adding that precise GPS tracking allows the satellites to maintain a tight formation needed for high-resolution three-dimensional observations.
The four MMS spacecraft incorporate GPS measurements into their precise tracking systems set the record at an altitude of 43,500 miles. According to International Business Times, the primary goal of the mission is to investigate a scarcely understood phenomenon called magnetic reconnection, which can link the sun’s magnetic field lines to Earth’s, funneling material and energy from the sun into Earth’s magnetic environment.
“The four MMS spacecraft fly in a pyramid shape, with one satellite marking each corner. This shape, called a tetrahedron, allows MMS to capture three-dimensional observations of magnetic reconnection – critical for fully understanding this process,” NASA said in a statement released at the time.
The mission began with the launch of 4 identical satellites on March 12, 2015. And during the next six months, the 4 MMS spacecraft will fly in a tetrahedral formation that will skim Earth's magnetopause near every crest, sampling that boundary and the myriad of plasma processes that occur there.
