Updated Feb. 25, 12:53 a.m.:
The briefing has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. EST. The live stream is still available here, but NASA will conduct the briefing two hours later than previously planned.
A new NASA mission to study magnetic reconnection around the Earth will examine how magnetic fields connect and release energy. The launch of the four identical observatories will take place on March 12, but NASA will conduct a live media briefing on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. EST, according to a press release by NASA Headquarters, Washington D.C. and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
The mission, called the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, will give scientists insight into magnetic reconnection, which can accelerate particles to a velocity close to the speed of light. Studying the Earth's reconnection "will help scientists understand reconnection in the atmosphere of the Sun and other stars, in the vicinity of black holes and neutron stars, and at the boundary between our solar system's heliosphere and interstellar space," according to the press release.
Four identical spacecrafts will be used to provide the first 3-D view of magnetic reconnection. The spacecrafts will fly in tight formation as the image is taken.
Launch is scheduled for 10:44 p.m. March 12, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Participants in the briefing being held on Wednesday include:
Jeff Newmark, interim director of the Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Jim Burch, principal investigator of MMS Instrument Suite, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Tx.
Craig Tooley, MMS Project Manager from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Paul Cassak, associate professor at West Virginia University, Morgantown, W.V.
You can get in on the discussion and ask questions during the briefing with the Twitter hashtag #askNASA.
Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream
Don't forget about the second of three scheduled spacewalks for NASA astronauts Wilmore and Virts on the International Space Station. You can watch the live stream here. The next walk is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 7:10 a.m. EST. Bookmark this article for quick and easy access to the live stream.
