MMS 3: Magnetospheric Multiscale Spacecraft Position and Magnetic Field Data

Magnetospheric Multiscale 3 (MMS 3) spacecraft position, velocity, attitude, and magnetic ephemeris data at 30 ms burst time resolution. The data are calculated using the Tsyganenko 1989 magnetic field model for disturbed conditions and include variables such as magnetic field strength, L-shell, magnetic local time, and footpoint coordinates. This Level-2 science data product is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling magnetospheric magnetic field lines based on the Tsyganenko 1989 model and spacecraft position.
• Analyzing spacecraft trajectory and attitude in multiple coordinate systems based on the provided rotational quaternions.
• Studying the relationship between spacecraft location and geomagnetic activity indices like Dst and Kp.
• Identifying open and closed magnetic field lines and calculating loss cone angles for particle precipitation studies.

Strengths

• Data is provided at a high 30 ms time resolution for burst mode analysis.
• Includes calculated magnetic ephemeris for both northern and southern hemisphere footpoints.
• Supports coordinate transformations into 11 different systems via provided quaternions.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the Magnetospheric Multiscale 3 spacecraft and processed into Level-2 science data.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 06:14:25.920264; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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