Investigating COTS magnetometers for spaceflight research applications

This work assesses the viability of modifying commercial magnetometer sensor technology in order to produce space flight instruments capable of observations required for science and operations but using less resources than typical for science-grade magnetometers. The proposed work would leverage the unique capabilities of Goddard’s world-class expertise in magnetometry and the Mario H. Acuña Magnetic Testing Facility to perform comprehensive, in-depth characterization and performance evaluation of three magnetometers: a magneto-inductive magnetometer, a miniaturized fluxgate magnetometer, and an optically pumped quantum magnetometer. The resulting insights will enable our team to implement design improvements to ultimately produce magnetometers optimized for low size, weight, and power requirements (SWaP) that can satisfy the performance requirements for some terrestrial and heliophysics missions, including missions specifically tailored to low-resource space weather monitoring and characterization.

Comprehensive characterization of three magnetometer types (magneto-inductive, miniaturized fluxgate, optically pumped quantum) at GSFC's Mario H. Acuña Magnetic Testing Facility; design improvements producing low-SWaP magnetometers satisfying performance requirements for terrestrial and heliophysics missions.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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