Fluxgate sensor for the vector magnetometer onboard the `Astrid-2' satellite

Abstract

The vector magnetometer sensor onboard the Astrid-2 satellite is made as a compact ringcore fluxgate sensor with single axis compensation. The ringcores used in the sensor are identical to the cores used in the fluxgate (CSC-) sensor in the high quality magnetometer onboard the field mapping satellite called `Ørsted'. To obtain good axial stability special attention is drawn to the mechanical construction of the tri-axial sensor configuration. Almost all parts of the sensor are machined from the glassy material MACOR® that has approximately the same thermal expansion coefficient as the core ribbon. The single axis compensated ringcore sensors are known to have some linearity problems with large uncompensated fields perpendicular to the measuring axis. This phenomenon is also seen for the Astrid-2 sensor, and from a coil-calibration of the flight-spare sensor we observe non-linearities in the order of 2.1 to 4.3 nT p. From the results of the calibration, an unfortunate magnetic coupling between two of the axes was discovered. This coupling is also associated with the ringcore geometry and large uncompensated transverse field.