For the first time, NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission began flying in a four-sided pyramid shape, a tetrahedron.
This image shows the pyramid-shaped formation of the four MMS spacecraft. This three-dimensional arrangement allows MMS to collect the best possible data on magnetic reconnection. Scientists will change the distance among the four spacecraft to study magnetic reconnection on different scales.
On July 9, 2015 the four spacecraft of NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission began flying in a pyramid shape for the first time. The four-sided pyramid shape—called a tetrahedron—means that scientists’ observations will be spread out over three dimensions.
Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center