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Meet the kinetic Alfvén wave.
These tiny waves carry energy from one place to another as they flow through the charged particles - or plasma - of space.
For over a half century, scientist have wondered exactly how the wave interacts with the plasma particles.
NASA's MMS mission was able to observe kinetic Alfvén waves down to the scale of how particles move, for the first time.
We can see that the wave traps the particles in clumps between its peaks.
This trapping allows energy to cycle efficiently back and forth between the wave and plasma.
MMS could see such small scales, because the four observatories fly in the closest multispacecraft formation ever flown.
With 3D data from MMS, we study plasma physics near Earth -- which sheds light on fundamental physics throughout the universe.
By exploring kinetic Alfvén waves in near-Earth space, we can better understand plasma processes that generate energy and heat,
like how energy moves in plasma in nuclear fusion reactors,
or how heat moves in the solar wind, the constant flow of plasma from the sun that fills the solar system.
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