11 hours ago Credit: NASA

The Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, Observatory #4, is undergoing spin testing on the Miller Table for Mass Properties at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Engineers use this machine to determine the spacecraft's center of gravity, adding counter balances as needed to ensure it spins correctly in orbit. All four of the MMS observatories undergo this testing prior to launch.

Explore further: NASA's MMS observatories stacked for testing

(Phys.org) Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., accomplished another first. Using a large overhead crane, they mated two Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, observatories ...

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(Phys.org) -- The decks have arrived. Engineers working on NASA'S Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission have started integrating instruments on the first of four instrument decks in a newly fabricated cleanroom ...

(Phys.org)On August 31, 2012 , NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission proved it was ready for its next steps by passing what's called a Systems Integration Review (SIR), which deems a mission ready ...

First thing every morning, the engineering team for NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission gathers for a 10-minute meeting. A white board sits at the front of the room with the day's assignments who ...

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Image: Magnetospheric Multiscale Observatories undergo spin tests