Speakers
Description
The Mass-change And Geosciences International Constellation (MAGIC), a joint mission initiative by ESA and NASA, is designed to provide high-resolution, time-variable gravity data to support global monitoring of water mass transport. By tracking changes in Earth’s gravity field, MAGIC will enable improved understanding of critical processes such as ice sheet and glacier melting, groundwater depletion, and ocean circulation—key components of the climate system.
Within this constellation, ESA’s Next Generation Gravity Mission (NGGM) will form the inclined-orbit satellite pair, flying in tandem with NASA’s GRACE-C polar pair to achieve improved spatial and temporal resolution. NGGM leverages advanced technologies including laser interferometry, high-precision accelerometers, and drag-free control, all of which impose strict requirements on spacecraft thermal stability. Ensuring consistent thermal performance is essential to maintain the nanometer-level measurement sensitivity required for inter-satellite ranging and inertial force detection. With strict requirements in terms of temperature stability in the time-domain and thermal noise in the frequency domain, it is critical to accurately assess the satellites' orbital environment and evaluate thermal control across each orbit and in mission-relevant spectral bands.
This presentation presents the key challenges and preliminary solutions in the thermal design of the NGGM satellites, with emphasis on maintaining instrument performance under highly dynamic orbital and environmental conditions, and ensuring mission-critical thermal stability for sub-nanometer measurement accuracy.
