MAG - Fluxgate Magnetometer

The science objective of MAG is to provide the vectorial magnetic field measurements that are crucial for analyzing all plasma processes in space.

The two tri-axial fluxgate sensors designed for PO employ a miniaturized design based on two ring-cores each. These are arranged such that the X and Y axes are measured by one core each, while the Z axis is measured by both cores. Both sensors are connected to a single electronics board inside the BOX-P via independent harnesses.

The two sensors will be mounted on a boom in a gradiometer configuration, i.e. with different distances from the spacecraft to allow discriminating between spacecraft-internal disturbance fields and the natural, external field.

MAG is developed by IWF in Graz, Austria in collaboration with TU Braunschweig, Germany and Imperial College, London, UK. The same team has developed fluxgate magnetometers for a large number of ESA and NASA missions like THEMIS, JUICE, BepiColombo and Comet Interceptor.