MMS 2: Magnetospheric Multiscale Spacecraft Position and Magnetic Field Data

NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale 2 (MMS 2) spacecraft provides Level-2 science data at 30-millisecond Burst Mode resolution. The data product includes spacecraft position, velocity, attitude, and magnetic ephemeris coordinates calculated using the Tsyganenko 2004 model for disturbed magnetospheric conditions. It also contains magnetic field measurements, footpoint tracing, loss cone angles, L-shell, magnetic local time, and ancillary variables like Dst and Kp activity indices.

Use Cases

• Modeling disturbed magnetospheric conditions based on the Tsyganenko 2004 magnetic field model.
• Analyzing spacecraft trajectory and magnetic field line connectivity based on footpoint and loss cone angle data.
• Correlating spacecraft measurements with geomagnetic activity using the included Dst and Kp indices.
• Transforming coordinate systems for analysis using the provided rotational quaternions.

Strengths

• Data is collected at a high 30-millisecond time resolution in Burst Mode.
• Includes magnetic field line tracing to calculate northern and southern hemisphere footpoints.
• Provides coordinate transformation quaternions for 11 different systems.
• Ancillary variables include dipole tilt angle and geomagnetic activity indices (Dst, Kp).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is stored in a BIN format, which may require specialized tools for access.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the Magnetospheric Multiscale 2 (MMS 2) spacecraft.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 06:25:26.568665; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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