an unmanned atlas  rocket blasted off from florida on thursday with a quartet of  nasa science satellites designed to map explosions triggered by  criss crossing magnetic fields around the earth the 20 story tall rocket, built and launched by united  launch alliance, a partnership of lockheed martin and  boeing, lifted off from cape canaveral air force station  at 10:44 pm edt (0244 gmt on friday) perched atop the rocket were four identical satellites  designed to fly in a pyramid formation high around earth scroll down for video 3 2 1! nasa has launched four identical spacecraft on a billion dollar mission to study the explosive give and take of the earth and sun's magnetic fields  we have liftoff! an unmanned atlas rocket blasted off thursday night from cape canaveral, florida, carrying nasa's magnetospheric multiscale spacecraft  up, up and away! the observatories will be placed into an oblong orbit stretching tens of thousands of miles into the magnetosphere  each satellite is equipped with 25 sensors to record in  split second detail what happens when the planet's magnetic  field lines break apart and reconnect data from the four probes  will be combined to produce three dimensional maps of the  process magnetic reconnection, as the phenomenon is known, is  commonplace throughout the universe, but poorly understood magnetic fields are generated by planets, stars, galaxies,  black holes and other celestial objects when field lines snap  apart and reconnect, charged particles are sent soaring into  space at nearly the speed of light, roughly 186,000 miles per  second on the sun, magnetic reconnection unleashes solar flares,  each as powerful as 1 million atomic bombs such solar activity  can trigger magnetic storms and aurora displays on earth mission space: they will fly in pyramid formation to provide 3 d views of magnetic reconnection on the smallest of scales  new frontiers: magnetic reconnection is what happens when magnetic fields come together, break apart, then come together again, releasing vast energy  nasa is spending about $11 billion on the project, known as  magnetospheric multiscale, or mms, in an effort to understand  how the energy is generated and released the satellites will  fly directly into reconnection zones 44,000 to 95,000 miles above earth and map what happens when  magnetic field lines realign 'the mms mission will conduct a definitive experiment in  space that will finally allow us to understand how magnetic  reconnection works,' lead researcher jim burch, from the  southwest research institute in san antonio, texas, told  reporters at a pre launch press conference the research may have some practical spinoffs as well efforts to harness nuclear fusion in laboratories have been  stymied by magnetic reconnection, which causes temperatures to  drop in the fusion chambers it also may help forecasters predict dangerous solar storms,  which can knock out power grids on earth and disrupt radio, gps  and satellite signals the mission is designed to last two years science: the process of magnetic reconnection drives the aurora, as well as potentially disruptive solar storms 
nasa $11 billion earth atlas 5 about 6 miles
nasa has launched four satellites in a $11 billion mission to study the high speed interactions between earth's magnetic field and the sun . magnetic discharges drive auroras and play havoc with satellite navigation, communications and power grids . the hard to study mechanism underlying space weather is known as magnetic reconnection . atlas 5 rocket was carrying four satellites . when in space, all four will be arranged in a pyramid formation, flying within about 6 miles of one anoter 