Interactive Science Exhibit

MMS4 Ephemeris Lens

A high-level overview of a browser exhibit that turns NASA MMS4 burst ephemeris data into a guided magnetosphere scene.

By Eric Rhea GameLab prototype Status: Interactive exhibit

The exhibit uses a small cached slice of public NASA CDAWeb/HAPI data so it can run as a static page. The magnetic-field particles are an educational schematic, not a full field-line solver.

High-Level Overview

MMS4 Ephemeris Lens is a public GameLab exhibit about making spacecraft data readable without turning it into a spreadsheet. It places MMS4, one spacecraft in NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, inside a browser scene that explains where the spacecraft is, how the coordinate frame works, and what selected space-weather context values mean.

The build combines a static Three.js visualization, a guided onboarding path, short understanding quests, and source-backed teaching copy. The goal is not to simulate the whole magnetosphere. The goal is to help a visitor connect real ephemeris fields to a visual model they can inspect.

What the Exhibit Lets You Do

  • Launch a static browser exhibit that plots MMS4 in GSM coordinates with Earth, distance rings, axes, and a burst-motion lens.
  • Move through staged views that start with orientation, then unlock parameters, source details, and field-context explanations.
  • Compare quiet, Kp storm-level, and Dst storm-level cached snippets without needing a server or live data call.
  • Read the cited research notes that explain which facts came from NASA, NOAA, CDAWeb/HAPI, SPASE, SSCWeb, CCMC, and local build tooling.

Source Backbone

The app is intentionally source-forward. The public exhibit is built from a small local cache of the `MMS4_MEC_BRST_L2_EPHT89D` product, then annotated with plain-language explanations and caveats from the collected research notes.

Observed data NASA CDAWeb/HAPI MMS4 burst ephemeris rows supply the position, velocity, magnetic latitude, magnetic local time, Kp, Dst, and field-line type values.
Teaching model The scene uses GSM orientation and a schematic magnetosphere field layer so visitors can reason about dayside compression and nightside tail stretch.
Runtime shape The exhibit is static and local-first: vendored Three.js assets, cached data, generated onboarding images, and source notes ship with the page.

Research cards

These cards are the top-level navigation for the research collected during the build. Each page includes the citation, source URL, applied implication, and the caveat it contributed to the exhibit.

SPASE Dataset

The source record for `MMS4_MEC_BRST_L2_EPHT89D`, the 30 ms burst product used by the exhibit cache.

Read the source note →

Ephemeris Terms

The glossary and plain-language definitions behind the Learn, Parameters, and Source tabs.

Read the source note →

Field Representation

The visual rules and caveats for the schematic magnetic-field particle layer.

Read the source note →

Curated Burst Cache

The quiet, Kp storm-level, and Dst storm-level snippets that make the static exhibit comparative.

Read the source note →

Local Tooling API

The local-only vision and chat tooling reference that informed optional build-time inspection.

Read the source note →

Research Index

A single card index for all citations and build sources used in the MMS4 exhibit.

Browse all research →

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