Science

MMS-3

Catalogued as MMS 3

Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission · NASA

The third MMS spacecraft completes the triangular base of the formation tetrahedron. In 2016, MMS-3 was at the exact position to directly enter a magnetic reconnection electron diffusion region — the innermost zone of reconnection where electrons are accelerated to high energies — for the first time ever. This landmark observation, possible only because all four spacecraft were perfectly placed, confirmed theoretical predictions about reconnection that had stood for decades.