Plasma-satellite interaction driven magnetic field perturbations

We report the first fully kinetic quantitative estimate of magnetic field perturbations caused by the interaction of a spacecraft with space environment. Such perturbations could affect measurements of geophysical magnetic fields made with very sensitive magnetometers on-board satellites. Our approa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysics of plasmas Vol. 21; no. 9
Main Authors Saeed-ur-Rehman, Marchand, Richard
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Melville American Institute of Physics 01.09.2014
Subjects
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
Aerospace environments
ENVIRONMENT
Geophysics
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOMETERS
Missions
PERTURBATION THEORY
PLASMA
Satellite-borne instruments
SATELLITES
SENSITIVITY
SPACE
Spacecraft-environment interaction
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
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Summary:We report the first fully kinetic quantitative estimate of magnetic field perturbations caused by the interaction of a spacecraft with space environment. Such perturbations could affect measurements of geophysical magnetic fields made with very sensitive magnetometers on-board satellites. Our approach is illustrated with a calculation of perturbed magnetic fields near the recently launched Swarm satellites. In this case, magnetic field perturbations do not exceed 20 pT, and they are below the sensitivity threshold of the on-board magnetometers. Anticipating future missions in which satellites and instruments would be subject to more intense solar UV radiation, however, it appears that magnetic field perturbations associated with satellite interaction with space environment, might approach or exceed instruments' sensitivity thresholds.
Bibliography:SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Correspondence-1
content type line 14
ISSN:1070-664X
1089-7674
DOI:10.1063/1.4894678