Mass-change And Geosciences International Constellation (MAGIC) expected impact on science and applications

The joint ESA/NASA Mass-change And Geosciences International Constellation (MAGIC) has the objective to extend time-series from previous gravity missions, including an improvement of accuracy and spatio-temporal resolution. The long-term monitoring of Earth’s gravity field carries information on mass change induced by water cycle, climate...

Satellite drag coefficient modeling for thermosphere science and mission operations

Satellite drag modeling remains the largest source of uncertainty affecting space operations in low Earth orbit. The uncertainty stems from inaccurate models for mass density and drag coefficient. Drag coefficient modeling also impacts scientific knowledge on the physics and dynamics of the upper atmosphere through the estimation of high...

Next Generation Gravity Mission Elements of the Mass Change and Geoscience International Constellation: From Orbit Selection to Instrument and Mission Design

ESA’s Next Generation Gravity Mission (NGGM) is a candidate Mission of Opportunity for ESA–NASA cooperation in the frame of the Mass Change and Geosciences International Constellation (MAGIC). The mission aims at enabling long-term monitoring of the temporal variations of Earth’s gravity field at relatively high temporal (down to 3 days) and...

Gas-surface interactions modelling influence on satellite aerodynamics and thermosphere mass density

The satellite acceleration data from the CHAMP, GRACE, GOCE, and Swarm missions provide detailed information on the thermosphere density over the last two decades. Recent work on reducing errors in modelling the spacecraft geometry has greatly reduced scale differences between the thermosphere data sets from these missions. However, residual...

Consistent thermosphere density and wind data from satellite observations: A study of satellite aerodynamics and thermospheric products

The German CHAMP, US/German GRACE, and European Space Agency (ESA) GOCE and Swarm Earth Explorer satellites have provided a data set of accelerometer observations allowing the derivation of thermospheric density and wind products for a period spanning more than 15 years. With the advent of highly accurate satellite accelerometer measurements,...