ESA/NASA Mass change And Geosciences International Constellation (MAGIC) mission concept – science and application prospects

ESA and NASA are currently intensifying their long-term efforts on a collaborative implementation of a next generation mass change and gravity monitoring satellite mission under the umbrella of the NASA-ESA Joint Programme Planning Group sub-group 1. MAss-change and Geosciences International Constellation (MAGIC) is the joint NASA/ESA constellation concept based on NASA’s MCDO and ESA’s NGGM studies. The main objective of MAGIC is to extend the mass transport time series from previous gravity missions such as GRACE and GRACE-Follow on with significantly enhanced accuracy, spatial and temporal resolutions and to demonstrate the operational capabilities of MAGIC. The concept is based on a joint ESA/NASA Mission Requirements Document (MRD) which summarizes the goal requirements of the global scientific community (including requirements from the IGWSG report, IUGG, MCDO, etc.). The first pair of the MAGIC Constellation will be implemented via a NASA/DLR fast-paced cooperation to ensure continuity of observations of GRACE-Follow On, with some potential ESA in-kind contributions for a new generation of accelerometers. The second pair will be implemented by ESA with some potential NASA in-kind contributions for the Laser Tracking Instrument.

This paper will address the novel science and applications enabled by MAGIC for the fields of hydrology, cryosphere, oceanography and solid Earth and demonstrate the significant added value of MAGIC constellation for unravelling and understanding mass transport and mass change processes in the Earth system.