MMS 4 FPI: Magnetospheric Plasma Distribution Moments at 4.5-Second Resolution

NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission provides this Level 2 dataset from the Fast Plasma Investigation's Dual Ion Spectrometer. It contains integrated moments of phase space distributions, aggregated to a 4.5-second survey resolution from higher-rate burst measurements. The data includes instrument state annotations and is last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling magnetospheric plasma behavior based on integrated distribution moments.
• Analyzing temporal variations in ion populations based on the 4.5-second time resolution.
• Correlating plasma conditions with spacecraft location based on instrument state annotations.
• Studying the effects of calibration activities and Earth's radiation belts on instrument operation.

Strengths

• Data is produced by NASA, an authoritative space science organization.
• Includes instrument state annotations, providing context for the measurements.
• Last updated date of 2026-03-13 indicates ongoing maintenance.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected by the Fast Plasma Investigation (FPI) instrument on the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft, aggregated onboard from burst resolution.

Time Range

Temporal coverage is implied by the mission phase but not explicitly stated.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 06:03:49.560941

Geography

Spatial coverage is the magnetospheric region of interest for the MMS mission.