First in situ measurements of the prototype Tesseract fluxgate magnetometer on the ACES-II-Low sounding rocket
Ongoing innovation in next-generation fluxgate magnetometry is important for enabling future investigations of space plasma, especially multi-spacecraft experimental studies of energy transport in the magnetosphere and the solar wind. Demonstrating the spaceflight capability of novel designs is an i...
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2024
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:e07c504d1f3d4625a12318fffb60e527 2024-09-15T17:39:24+00:00 First in situ measurements of the prototype Tesseract fluxgate magnetometer on the ACES-II-Low sounding rocket K. Greene S. R. Bounds R. M. Broadfoot C. Feltman S. J. Hisel R. M. Kraus A. Lasko A. Washington D. M. Miles 2024-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-13-249-2024 https://doaj.org/article/e07c504d1f3d4625a12318fffb60e527 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://gi.copernicus.org/articles/13/249/2024/gi-13-249-2024.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/2193-0856 https://doaj.org/toc/2193-0864 doi:10.5194/gi-13-249-2024 2193-0856 2193-0864 https://doaj.org/article/e07c504d1f3d4625a12318fffb60e527 Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems, Vol 13, Pp 249-262 (2024) Geophysics. Cosmic physics QC801-809 article 2024 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-13-249-2024 2024-08-05T17:48:47Z Ongoing innovation in next-generation fluxgate magnetometry is important for enabling future investigations of space plasma, especially multi-spacecraft experimental studies of energy transport in the magnetosphere and the solar wind. Demonstrating the spaceflight capability of novel designs is an important step in the instrument development process; however, large-scale satellite missions are often unwilling to accept the risks of an instrument without flight heritage. The Tesseract – a novel fluxgate magnetometer sensor design – had an opportunity for an inaugural spaceflight demonstration on the ACES-II sounding rocket mission, which launched from Andøya Space Center in Andenes, Norway, in November 2022. Tesseract's design takes advantage of a new racetrack core geometry to create a sensor that addresses some of the issues that contribute to instability in more traditional ring-core designs. Here we present the design of a prototype fluxgate magnetometer based on the new Tesseract sensor, its pre-flight characteristics, and an evaluation of its in-flight performance aboard ACES-II. We find that the magnetic field measured by Tesseract over the course of the flight was in strong agreement with both the onboard ACES II reference ring-core fluxgate magnetometer and the predictions of a geomagnetic field model. The Tesseract-based magnetometer measured signatures of field-aligned currents and potential Alfvén wave activity as it crossed an active auroral arc, and we conclude that it performed as expected. Tesseract will be flown on the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) Small Explorers (SMEX) satellite mission as part of the MAGnetometers for Innovation and Capability (MAGIC) technology demonstration currently scheduled to launch in 2025. Article in Journal/Newspaper Andenes Andøya Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems 13 2 249 262 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Geophysics. Cosmic physics QC801-809 |
spellingShingle |
Geophysics. Cosmic physics QC801-809 K. Greene S. R. Bounds R. M. Broadfoot C. Feltman S. J. Hisel R. M. Kraus A. Lasko A. Washington D. M. Miles First in situ measurements of the prototype Tesseract fluxgate magnetometer on the ACES-II-Low sounding rocket |
topic_facet |
Geophysics. Cosmic physics QC801-809 |
description |
Ongoing innovation in next-generation fluxgate magnetometry is important for enabling future investigations of space plasma, especially multi-spacecraft experimental studies of energy transport in the magnetosphere and the solar wind. Demonstrating the spaceflight capability of novel designs is an important step in the instrument development process; however, large-scale satellite missions are often unwilling to accept the risks of an instrument without flight heritage. The Tesseract – a novel fluxgate magnetometer sensor design – had an opportunity for an inaugural spaceflight demonstration on the ACES-II sounding rocket mission, which launched from Andøya Space Center in Andenes, Norway, in November 2022. Tesseract's design takes advantage of a new racetrack core geometry to create a sensor that addresses some of the issues that contribute to instability in more traditional ring-core designs. Here we present the design of a prototype fluxgate magnetometer based on the new Tesseract sensor, its pre-flight characteristics, and an evaluation of its in-flight performance aboard ACES-II. We find that the magnetic field measured by Tesseract over the course of the flight was in strong agreement with both the onboard ACES II reference ring-core fluxgate magnetometer and the predictions of a geomagnetic field model. The Tesseract-based magnetometer measured signatures of field-aligned currents and potential Alfvén wave activity as it crossed an active auroral arc, and we conclude that it performed as expected. Tesseract will be flown on the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) Small Explorers (SMEX) satellite mission as part of the MAGnetometers for Innovation and Capability (MAGIC) technology demonstration currently scheduled to launch in 2025. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
K. Greene S. R. Bounds R. M. Broadfoot C. Feltman S. J. Hisel R. M. Kraus A. Lasko A. Washington D. M. Miles |
author_facet |
K. Greene S. R. Bounds R. M. Broadfoot C. Feltman S. J. Hisel R. M. Kraus A. Lasko A. Washington D. M. Miles |
author_sort |
K. Greene |
title |
First in situ measurements of the prototype Tesseract fluxgate magnetometer on the ACES-II-Low sounding rocket |
title_short |
First in situ measurements of the prototype Tesseract fluxgate magnetometer on the ACES-II-Low sounding rocket |
title_full |
First in situ measurements of the prototype Tesseract fluxgate magnetometer on the ACES-II-Low sounding rocket |
title_fullStr |
First in situ measurements of the prototype Tesseract fluxgate magnetometer on the ACES-II-Low sounding rocket |
title_full_unstemmed |
First in situ measurements of the prototype Tesseract fluxgate magnetometer on the ACES-II-Low sounding rocket |
title_sort |
first in situ measurements of the prototype tesseract fluxgate magnetometer on the aces-ii-low sounding rocket |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-13-249-2024 https://doaj.org/article/e07c504d1f3d4625a12318fffb60e527 |
genre |
Andenes Andøya |
genre_facet |
Andenes Andøya |
op_source |
Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems, Vol 13, Pp 249-262 (2024) |
op_relation |
https://gi.copernicus.org/articles/13/249/2024/gi-13-249-2024.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/2193-0856 https://doaj.org/toc/2193-0864 doi:10.5194/gi-13-249-2024 2193-0856 2193-0864 https://doaj.org/article/e07c504d1f3d4625a12318fffb60e527 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-13-249-2024 |
container_title |
Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
249 |
op_container_end_page |
262 |
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1810479625563799552 |