Planetary Magnetospheres Laboratory

DC vector fluxgate magnetometer

Class:

Instrument

Status:

In Development

Organizations:

One way scientists can learn about the history and workings of moons or planets is by studying their magnetic properties with a magnetometer. Goddard scientists hope to test a theory that a stream of charged particles from the Sun, known as the solar wind, smash into the Moon and initiate a chemical process that makes water, or at least hydroxyl, an ingredient of water. Some scientists have suggested that a barrier to this process could be strong magnetic fields. The magnetometer team is building a 3.5-pound (1.6 kilogram) magnetometer. The instrument will deploy by unfurling its 6-foot (2-meter) arm, which will have a sensor at the end. Because the spacecraft itself is magnetic, the instrument needs to be as far away from it as possible to get accurate readings of the surrounding environment.

Key Staff