MMS 3 Magnetic Ephemeris and Coordinates: Spacecraft Position and Magnetic Field Data

NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale 3 spacecraft provides Level-2 science data at 30 ms burst resolution. The dataset includes spacecraft position, velocity, attitude, and magnetic ephemeris calculated using the Tsyganenko 1989 model for quiet magnetospheric conditions. It also contains magnetic field measurements, footpoint tracing, loss cone angles, L-shell, magnetic local time, and coordinate transformation quaternions.

Use Cases

• Model magnetospheric field lines based on the Tsyganenko 1989 magnetic field model.
• Trace spacecraft magnetic footpoints and calculate loss cone angles.
• Transform spacecraft coordinates between GEI and systems like BSC, GEO, GSE, and SM.
• Analyze spacecraft position and velocity relative to magnetic activity indices like Dst and Kp.
• Determine magnetic latitude, longitude, and L-shell for magnetospheric studies.

Strengths

• Data is calculated using the Tsyganenko 1989 magnetic field model for quiet conditions.
• Includes coordinate transformation quaternions for 11 different coordinate systems.
• Contains ancillary variables like dipole tilt angle, Dst, and Kp activity indices.

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 BIN format, which may require specialized tools for access.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 08:48:03.708723; freshness should be verified.