The MAGIC of CINEMA: first in-flight science results from a miniaturised anisotropic magnetoresistive magnetometer
| Autor: | John Sample, Patrick Brown, T. Oddy, Martin Archer, Jonathan Eastwood, Timothy S. Horbury, Barry J. Whiteside |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Atmospheric Science
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Magnetometer 01 natural sciences law.invention law 0103 physical sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) CubeSat lcsh:Science 010303 astronomy & astrophysics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Remote sensing Physics Spacecraft business.industry Nutation lcsh:QC801-809 Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Geology Astronomy and Astrophysics lcsh:QC1-999 Magnetic field Computational physics lcsh:Geophysics. Cosmic physics Amplitude Space and Planetary Science Physics::Space Physics lcsh:Q International Geomagnetic Reference Field business lcsh:Physics |
| Zdroj: | Annales Geophysicae, Vol 33, Pp 725-735 (2015) |
| ISSN: | 1432-0576 |
| DOI: | 10.5194/angeo-33-725-2015 |
| Popis: | We present the first in-flight results from a novel miniaturised anisotropic magnetoresistive space magnetometer, MAGIC (MAGnetometer from Imperial College), aboard the first CINEMA (CubeSat for Ions, Neutrals, Electrons and MAgnetic fields) spacecraft in low Earth orbit. An attitude-independent calibration technique is detailed using the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF), which is temperature dependent in the case of the outboard sensor. We show that the sensors accurately measure the expected absolute field to within 2% in attitude mode and 1% in science mode. Using a simple method we are able to estimate the spacecraft's attitude using the magnetometer only, thus characterising CINEMA's spin, precession and nutation. Finally, we show that the outboard sensor is capable of detecting transient physical signals with amplitudes of ~ 20–60 nT. These include field-aligned currents at the auroral oval, qualitatively similar to previous observations, which agree in location with measurements from the DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) and POES (Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites) spacecraft. Thus, we demonstrate and discuss the potential science capabilities of the MAGIC instrument onboard a CubeSat platform. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|