Observations Reshape Basic Plasma Wave Physics
New light has been shed on the invisible forces shaping our near-Earth environment, unveiling a fundamental physical phenomenon. Using a specialized suite of instruments aboard NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale – or MMS – spacecraft, scientists found the first observational proof of a fifty-year-old theory and uncovered new, unexpected complexities in the small-scale dynamics of a type of plasma wave, known as a kinetic Alfvén wave. The results may lead to improved nuclear fusion techniques for generating energy more efficiently.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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Producer
- Genna Duberstein (USRA)
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Science writer
- Mara Johnson-Groh (Wyle Information Systems)
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Visualizer
- Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
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Scientist
- Daniel J. Gershman (University of Maryland College Park)
Release date
This page was originally published on Friday, March 31, 2017.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:47 PM EDT.
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