Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission Navigation Performance During Apogee-Raising and Beyond

Abstract: The primary objective of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mission is to study the magnetic reconnection phenomena in the Earths magnetosphere. The MMS mission consists of four identical spinning spacecraft with the science objectives requiring a tetrahedral formation in highly elliptical orbits. The MMS spacecraft are equipped with onboard orbit and time determination software, provided by a weak-signal Global Positioning System (GPS) Navigator receiver hosting the Goddard Enhanced Onboard…