The Mass-Change and Geosciences International Constellation (MAGIC) is a planned National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA) joint venture. The mission will consist of four satellites, operating in pairs, and will measure fluctuations in Earth’s gravitational field, building upon the success of similar missions such as the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and its follow-on mission, GRACE-FO.

The Microwave Instrument and Laser Ranging Instrument will allow ultra-precise satellite-to-satellite tracking (SST) between each pair of satellites with high temporal resolution. From these data, a greater understanding of mass transport processes within the Earth can be gained. Mass transport refers to the process of soil, regolith, or rock being moved by ice or water. As such, the detection of mass transport processes allows a greater understanding of the distribution of ice and water across the Earth, insights that are vital to future climate predictions and the understanding and prediction of global hydrological cycles. As mass transport shifts enormous amounts of the Earth’s crust, it can be detected in variations in Earth’s gravitational field, meaning the proposed MAGIC system will play a vital part in a future understanding of Earth’s hydrological processes.

The NGGM and MAGIC End-To-End Mission Performance Evaluation Study (MPEF) is funded by ESA. It started in September 2024 and will be completed by June 2026.

The main goal of this study is the establishment of a concept for the NGGM/MAGIC Ground Processor from Level 0 to Level 3, including the definition of all interfaces among the processing units and to external data providers, the documentation of algorithms, and the definition of involved products. A first complete version of MPEF shall be implemented, tested, assessed, and validated.