Preface to the Special Issue on the Macao Science Satellite-1 Mission

The Macao Science Satellite-1(MSS-1)mission(https://mss.must.edu.mo/)is marked by a new high-precision constellation of satellites that will survey the Earth’s geomagnetic and space environment.MSS-1 consists of two satellites that are to be launched in the near future.Since these two low Earth orbit(LEO)satellites will operate in circular orbits,with an inclination of about 41°,they are expected to provide essential measurements covering the Earth’s lower-latitude regions—including,especially,the South Atlantic Anomaly(SAA).This special issue presents 18 articles to provide the international scientific community with details regarding the mission’s goals,relevant scientific research,on-board payloads,and international collaborations.Contributors are members of the scientific and engineering groups involved in the mission.In this preface,we categorize the articles and give some brief comments or editor’s recommendations.