Leti magnetometers perform for Swarm

Leti’s helium magnetometers—which are installed on the three Swarm mission satellites—made it through their in-flight commissioning with flying colors. The instruments provide an absolute point of reference for scalar field measurements and delivered the highest levels of performance ever achieved for observing the Earth. A vector mode provides a directional measurement of the field (via the same instrument) taken at the same point and at the same time as the scalar measurement. This is a world-first.
The magnetometers will be used alongside the Danish-manufactured vector instruments throughout the four-year space mission to map the Earth’s magnetic field with unprecedented precision and resolution. The three Swarm satellites orbit the Earth at altitudes ranging from 475 km to 500 km. The measurements they take have been available to the scientific community since late June.

Contact: thomas.jager@cea.fr

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