It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust ...

In 2017, MMS spotted the trademark magnetic reconnection of a substorm — but no actual substorm to go along with it. A substorm should come with violent electric currents and magnetic field ...

For the first time, scientists have measured a long-sought global electric field in the Earth’s atmosphere. This field, called the ambipolar electric field, was predicted to exist decades ago ...

Now, more than half a century later, NASA has finally recorded this theoretical field and measured a change in electric potential of only 0.55 volts, the correct amount needed to send ions at ...

You can get in touch with Jess by emailing j.thomson@newsweek.com. A strange electric field around the Earth, long suspected to exist, has been detected for the very first time, and it is believed ...

Scientists launched a rocket from Svalbard, Norway, that measured Earth’s ambipolar electric field for the first time. The weak field may control the shape and evolution of the upper atmosphere ...

The observatory will observe and record the physical phenomenon called magnetic field reconnection ... about 300 optocouplers aboard MMS. Optocouplers transfer electric signals via light waves.