Flux-gate magnetometer for Mars exploration
2008
A micro-satellite, Yinghuo-1, would be launched with Russian spacecraft, Phobos-Grunt in October, 2009 to investigate
the space environment around Mars. YH-1 and Phobos-Grunt forms a two-point measurement configuration in the
Martian space environment. YH-1 and Phobos-Grunt are equipped with similar magnetic field and plasma detecting
payload on two spacecraft would give some coordinated exploration around Mars. YH-1 would orbit Mars with periapsis
of 800 km above the Martian surface, and apoapsis about 80000km to the center of Mars. The orbit inclination is in the
range of 0~7° to the Martian equator. A flux-gate type magnetometer, with two tri-axial sensors, is developed for YH-1
spacecraft. Two sensors are mounted on one-side of the deployable solar panel with a radial separation about 45cm to
function as a gradiometer to minimize the affects of platform remanence. The dynamic range of the magnetometer is
±256nT with a 16-bit ADC converter, and the noise level is better than 0.01nT/√Hz, to measure three-component
magnetic field from DC to 10Hz. Flux-gate magnetometer would work together with the Plasma Package onboard of
YH-1 to investigate the Martian bow shock, magnetosheath, magnetic pileup region (MPR). A detail description of the
flux-gate magnetometer is presented in this paper, with test and calibration results.
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