GDC & NEMISIS

NEMISIS (Near-Earth Magnetometer In a Small Integrated System) will provide magnetic field observations to measure field-aligned currents, electrojets, and Poynting Flux to support the science objectives of GDC (Geospace Dynamics Constellation).

GDC Objectives

GDC is a flexible constellation of six spacecraft with six instruments (AETHER, CAPE, PROFILE, MoSAIC, TPS, NEMISIS) that evolves to observe the full range of space/time field variation scales and provides the first global picture of the upper atmosphere. The GDC mission aims to address two main science goals:

  1. Understand how the ionosphere-thermosphere system responds to variable magnetosphere forcing
  2. Understand how processes globally distribute mass, momentum, and energy in the upper atmosphere

Studying the upper atmosphere’s structure and processes will help address issues related to GPS navigation, satellite communication, and long-range radio transmissions. It will also further our understanding of human radiation exposure and satellite orbit decay & prediction in the thermosphere.


NEMISIS

NEMISIS will investigate GDC’s Goal 1 by measuring the electromagnetic energy that enters the upper atmosphere from Earth’s magnetosphere. It will quantify how these energy inputs vary in both space and time and how they control dynamics observed in the ionosphere-thermosphere system.

The instrument will measure a primary magnetospheric energy input (currents and Poynting flux) through observations of magnetic field variations. It consists of two body mounted magneto-inductive low-resource sensors with a miniature fluxgate magnetometer on the end of a short boom to enable magnetic noise identification and cancellation using modern machine learning algorithms. These algorithms enable high-quality magnetic field observations using a short boom and magnetically noisy spacecraft.


NEMISIS Team

Mark Moldwin

Institution: UM
Role: PI

Eftyhia Zesta

Institution: GSFC Code 673
Role: D-PI

Aaron Ridley

Institution: UM
Role: Modeling

Shasha Zou

Institution: UM
Role: Modeling, data analysis

Alex Hoffman

Institution: UM
Role: Noise Algorithms

Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti

Institution: UM
Role: Process Engineer

Meghan Burleigh

Institution: NRL
Role: Modeling (Global to Regional Model)

Seebany Datta-Barua

Institution: Illinois Institute of Tech
Role: Data Analysis (ITM, data assimilation)

Mike Hartinger

Institution: SSI
Role: Data Analysis (Poynting Flux Guru)

Denny Oliveira

Institution: GSFC Code 673
Role: Data Analysis and Modeling

Deirdre Wendel

Institution: GSFC Code 673
Role: Data Analysis and Modeling

Matt Finley

Institution: GSFC Code 673
Role: Noise Algorithms & Data Analysis