UNSC Navy Magnetosphere Study Group

The UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence Magnetosphere Study Group (MSG), colloquially referred to as "Mike Sierra Golf", is a multiworld project to study the magnetospheres of several UNSC colony worlds which is funded by UNSC Navy. Although the project receives military funding and is staffed with some Naval personnel, it is mostly comprised of civilian researchers, many from top research centers such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The study is presently expanding on previous investigations conducted on Earth's own magnetosphere.

Despite the academically-minded intent of the Magnetosphere Study Group, the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence maintains a discreet interest in the research program, for the high-energy phenomena being studied by the Magnetosphere Study Group, such as auroras, can also be caused by more sinister and non-natural causes — such as thermonuclear explosions, electromagnetic pulse weapons, or Covenant plasma torpedoes. Specifically, the ONI Directorate of Fleet Intelligence's Radio Intelligence Program maintains live surveillance of all of the Magnetosphere Study Group's ongoing observational studies, for the telltale detonation of an EMP pulse weapon or a plasma torpedo launch could be first signs of a planetary attack.