Satellites can be damaged by powerful magnetic storms to say nothing of harming astronauts and spaceships. A NASA vessel has now seen how this happens. The knowledge can help with the design of nuclear reactors. MMS Investigator Roy Torbert believes they have hit the jackpot and have now carried out experiments in the environment.
The most abundant form of matter in the universe is plasma. About 1/6th of this is ordinary matter while the rest is dark matter. Plasmas can be permeated by magnetic field lines and one differently oriented lines encounter one another, they can collide, then break before reconnecting to turn magnetic energy into kinetic energy and heat.
Credit: NASA
Credit: James Burch
It is like trains switching tracks and colliding according to James Drake of the University of Maryland. The crash will send out energy at the point of reconnection, and it will be sent out fiercely.
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The reconnection is a speedy event and electrons, and protons are shot out. Past research has shown how protons move during reconnection, but thanks to MMS direct measurements of the movement of electrons has been captured.
There have been theories surrounding this for many years, but knowing is so much better. Data collected has shown that the magnetic field has fallen to nearly zero, with electrons being accelerated and ions flowing in other directions. All of this led to the belief that the spacecraft involved had gone into a region of electron dissipation. There was a spike in the generation of electric power brought about by the electrons, and this happened at reconnection.