High precision Earth magnetic field measurements

With the high precision Earth magnetic field measurements of the last weeks we are able to compile a magnetic field map over the orbit tracks after in-orbit-calibration (Fig. 1). This map resembles the reference magnetic field with a precision of better than 2.5% of the magnetic field strength at all points throughout the orbits (Fig. 2). Deviations can mainly be seen in regions such as the magnetic poles and the south-Atlantic anomaly where the Earth's magnetic field undergoes changes due to the solar wind and seasonal variations (Fig. 3).

These results prove the accuracy of the COTS magnetometers in use and show that they are suitable for the use within a CubeSat's attitude determination system with a high accuracy.

The UWE-3 Team

Fig 1: Earth magnetic field map measured along the orbits.

Fig 2: Interpolation of the Earth magnetic field measurements.

Fig 3: Deviation of the magnetic field strength with respect to the reference magnetic field