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Questions tagged [magnetic-field]

Questions regarding fields of magnetisms and their effects on Space Exploration, such as the Earth's magnetic field.

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How can one collect interstellar dust using lasers or magnetic fields?

In this episode from Isaac Arthur about building artificial stars, he mentions that most mass (ignoring dark matter and energy) is not contained in the stars themselves, but in the interstellar dust ...
The Rocket fan's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
90 views

Did Mariner 9 have a magnetometer?

While doing research for this question, I found conflicting info on Mariner 9. There are websites that say it included a magnetometer, such as here and here. But NASA's site doesn't list it and ...
Mqrius's user avatar
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0 answers
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Can infrastructure for generating a protective artificial magnetic field around a planet also be used to propel nearby spacecraft?

This is an attempt at "...maybe you scientists whizzes can visualize what I'm talking about and explain it better." from this closed question. If a well-established colony on the Moon or ...
phil1008's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
120 views

How to select the right magnetic torquers to desaturate a wheel?

I want to select actuators for a micro-satellite (around 40 kg) orbiting in LEO. I proceeded in calculating the maximum disturbance torques that affect my spacecraft and selecting proper reaction ...
martina p's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
252 views

Is Electromagnetic Propulsion Like Radiation Pressure propulsion?

while browsing for new propulsion methods I found the following interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_pressure "Radiation pressure (also known as light pressure) is the mechanical ...
Stoyan's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
125 views

How do I simulate a magnetometer and get an attitude?

I consider that I have a single magnetometer (i don't know if I need more), how can I model that sensor? This was my idea: Consider a random unit length vector $\textbf{m}$ which is the magnetic field ...
Hamzalihi's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
275 views

Can we use magnets to land a spaceship (Starship)?

Can we use magnets to land a spaceship (Starship)? We could give the landing legs a magnetic flat surface or something and then the controller can reduce the magnetic strength or in other words, ...
Tejas Ranjith's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
180 views

How to calculate the force applied by a magnetorquer on a piece of a perfect ferromagnetic material?

How to calculate the force applied by a magnetorquer on a piece of a perfect ferromagnetic material at a particular distance in vacuum given that I know the actuatuon (in Am2) https://www.isispace.nl/...
Khushal Badhan's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
128 views

How many solar system bodies have had their magnetic fields directly measured?

Discussion below this post lead me to wonder: Question: How many solar system bodies have had their magnetic fields directly measured? Inferences from radio or spectroscopic observations don't count ...
uhoh's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
218 views

Would it be possible to use a electrodynamic tether or similar device on or within Europa to generate electricity from Jupiter's magnetosphere?

I was reading about the idea of using an electrodynamic tether to generate electricity for satellites in Earth's orbit using the planet's magnetic field, generating electricity but gradually lowering ...
Josh's user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
174 views

Why is Aurora Australis less popular? [closed]

The Aurora Borealis(Northern Lights), in the North, gets more publicity, than the (Southern Lights) Aurora Australis, Why is it so?
sam2611's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Why exactly did SOLRAD 1 have a magnet? Why weren't its interactions with Earth's magnetic field anticipated?

Wikipedia's SOLRAD_1; Scientific results says: The satellite communicated results in real-time, which meant that data could only be received when there was a tracking station within range – either ...
uhoh's user avatar
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24 votes
5 answers
8k views

Why doesn't the ISS orient itself to the Earth's magnetic field like a compass needle?

I was watching this video of a magnet aboard the ISS floating freely. When the person lets go of the magnet, it behaves like a compass needle and immediately orients itself to the magnetic field of ...
Wyck's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
442 views

How long would a magnetic shield placed at the Mars L1 point take to replenish Mars's atmosphere?

This conference paper proposes placing a magnetic shield at the Mars L1 point to protect it's atmosphere. The paper reports the results of modeling the martian atmosphere at a variety of pressures (10,...
UEFI's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
123 views

Why is it that harmful for astronauts and technology to get too far into Jupiter's magnetosphere? Shouldn't it rather be protective?

Jupiter's radiation belts make it impossible for astronauts to stay on Io, Europa and Ganymede over extended periods of time, as well as getting too close to Jupiter at all. I wonder how close would ...
Giovanni's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
196 views

Has any rover dragged a magnet across any solar system body to see what gets picked up or made magnetic measurements of specific rocks or particles?

On Earth, amateur and sometimes professional scientists collect dust from the tops of buildings or mountains (see also) and separate it with a magnet to obtain meteoric material. Not all meteoric ...
uhoh's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
57 views

Could a Mars rover reliably navigate using the local magnetic fields?

Mars does not have a global magnetic field which guides charged particles entering the atmosphere. Mars has multiple umbrella-shaped magnetic fields mainly in the Southern Hemisphere, which are ...
DrSheldon's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
45 views

Calculating angular deviation from LEO magnetic field

The situation I need to calculate pointing errors for a satellite that points along Earth's magnetic field. The satellite's position and orientation are given to me w.r.t ECI J2000. The orientation is ...
Andrew Johnson's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
119 views

Why are Hubble's magnetorquers angled?

Watching a video on how Hubble attitude control works I saw one portion on magnetorquers. It has four for redundancy but they are angled in a way that looks awkward from a packaging viewpoint, so what ...
Pilothead's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
47 views

Active magnetic protection against cosmic radiation - Can anyone provide articles or summarize the latest developments?

A European project purports to have a practical magnetic shield for cosmic rays, based on four MgB2 toroidL coils1 oriented around the spacecraft like the lines of longitude around the globe. I can't ...
DrBunny's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
547 views

Earth magnetic field vector in ECEF

I've this problem... I want to express the earth magnetic field vector in ECEF reference frame. As now I've just found some models for computing these values related to the earth magnetic field: D: ...
nico's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
244 views

Could artificial magnets orbiting the sun be used to accelerate spacecraft, like a magnetic "gravity" assist?

Say there's a powerful magnet in an orbit between those of Earth and Mars. Could a spacecraft traveling between those planets save propellant by performing a slingshot maneuver using its magnetic ...
Wesley Botham's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why did the data "go wild" when Ulysses entered Hyakutake's tail?

The following statement is from @OrganicMarble's answer to this question "How hard is it to fly through the tail of a comet? Has it been done?": On May 1, 1996, while Ulysses was cruising ...
Nilay Ghosh's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
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Can a spacecraft be propelled by two electromagnets of different size? [duplicate]

I watched a video of a toy car moving with 2 magnets, one bigger than the other. The answer I received was that the video was real, the toy car indeed moves. So, I was wondering, if an object with 2 ...
John's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
189 views

Magnetometer in space

See, i recently buy a magnetometer to experiment with arduino, i want start building a litle fly computer for a cubesat (this cubesat have an ion engine, so, have thrust). I start reading the Azimuth ...
Valentino Zaffrani's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
392 views

When the magnetic poles of the Sun flip (once in 11 years), is the Earth hit by more galactic cosmic rays?

The Sun protects us from cosmic rays from beyond the solar system. Every 11 years, the Sun's poles reverse. Solar cosmic rays are greatest during the reversal. During the reversal, are we hit by more ...
Deschele Schilder's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
77 views

I've looked at the Science involved but have doubts this would work, how can you generate momentum with-in a sealed system to produce propulsion? [closed]

Could you use a magnetic super-capacitor compound which is charged so it gains the maximum amount of weight\mass then is pushed away from the main object down a chamber using a magnetic field. As the ...
Shaun's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
25 views

Theories Clarification

I attended a seminar and the presenter was discussing various theories to explain the strong magnetic anomalies on Mars as spotted from orbit. One theory was that the "Lithology is rich in ...
Ahmed Abdulla's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
28 views

magnitude of magnetic anomalies (Earth and Mars)

I've been looking for the magnitude of highest and lowest magnetic anomalies on Earth and Mars (mapped by spacecraft in low orbit), by searching online I couldn't really find a numerical value. From ...
Ahmed Abdulla's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
141 views

Magnetic braking for interplanetary journeys?

One proposed use for a magnetic sail is to allow an interstellar spacecraft to brake as it approaches its destination. But could a magnetic sail also slow down a spacecraft traveling between planets? ...
Pitto's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
152 views

Ramscoop for a space station or lunar base?

From what I've read, the Bussard ramscoop has problems which make it impractical as a means of propulsion. However, would it be possible to use it for a different purpose? Could a space station or ...
Pitto's user avatar
  • 1,274
4 votes
1 answer
132 views

Possible explanations to Mars' exceptionally strong magnetic anomalies

Some of the magnetic anomalies spotted in the southern hemisphere of Mars from orbit are exceptionally high in magnitude and they are an order of magnitude greater than what we would expect ...
Ahmed Abdulla's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
72 views

Possible explanations to a negative correlation between iron (Ferromagnetic) and magnetic field observations from orbit

When looking at magnetic field observation of a planet with no current magnetic field, we can observe magnetic anomalies, which is basically when ferromagnetic minerals acquire remanent magnetization ...
Ahmed Abdulla's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
115 views

What was Steve? Is it called something else now?

"Steve" was a temporary name for a space phenomenon above the Earth. Since then it's likely much work as been done and a more permanent name chosen. So I'd like to ask what Steve really was/is, and if ...
uhoh's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
579 views

Why must "Mercury’s core (be) partially molten" to explain its weak magnetism?

EarthSky.org's Top 5 Mercury mysteries that BepiColombo will solve says: Why does Mercury have a magnetic field? Not too many planets have a magnetic field. Among the rocky planets of the inner ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
3 votes
1 answer
344 views

Can a strong magnetic field be used to propel a spacecraft towards Mars and outer planets in Solar system?

Sun is bombarding us with ionized particles and these particles are moving towards outer planets. During solar flares this effect is intensified greatly. If we are able to create very strong magnetic ...
WOW 6EQUJ5's user avatar
  • 2,331
2 votes
1 answer
803 views

How strong is Sun magnetic field on Moon surface? And on Mars?

I wan to calculate the voltage difference generated by sun EM Field on a wire placed on Moon or Mars surface, but I can't find consistent data about solar EM Field. I found different values: The ...
jumpjack's user avatar
  • 3,043
2 votes
0 answers
131 views

How strong would a magnetic field have to be to protect interplanetary craft?

The following suggests that this is a possible idea to protect crew on interstellar space flight: Is NASA doing research on "mini-magnetospheres" to protect crew from radiation in space? ...
Chthonic One's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
409 views

How could Earth's magnetic field be used to determine a cubesat's attitude in LEO?

After reading this answer I thought that I'd read about a smallsat that used magnetometers to measure the Earth's magnetic field direction and magnitude along with a model for Earth's field and some ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
1 vote
1 answer
284 views

How were Venera's variometers able to measure extremely weak, nano-Tesla magnetic fields?

The image below is from the really interesting page Inventing The Interplanetary Probe (linked by @A.Rumlin here). Above the fluxgate magnetometer there is a pair of short tubes labeled "...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
2 votes
1 answer
186 views

Could man-made, magnetic shields protect us from from sun's energetic particles from coronal mass ejections?

I read this in a published scholarly article: "...deploying a magnetic shield could enhance Mars' atmosphere and facilitate crewed missions there in the future..." It made me wonder if it is possible ...
Arrrstin's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
119 views

Is tidal-lock associated with lack of geothermal activity?

This question mainly stems from the inconvenient datum that is Venus. I was long under the impression that liquid mantle and core of a planet was tied to the mass of the planet (except perhaps where ...
Stumbler's user avatar
  • 287
7 votes
1 answer
182 views

What, if any, effect does the Martian magnetic field have on dust storms?

Since we know most dust particles on Mars are magnetic, I was wondering if they might be affected by the Martian magnetic field. Can the Martian magnetic field have any effect on the spatial ...
jyotirmoy's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
639 views

Are geostationary orbits impacted by changes to earths magnetic field?

Would geostationary satellites be pushed to different orbits by changes in the magnetic filed or even more so by shifting poles or even a reversal?
Roger's user avatar
  • 133
2 votes
1 answer
2k views

Do GPS satellites use the earth's magnetic field in any way?

There's a lot of speculation about how changes or flips in the Earth's magnetic field would affect us, our machines, and sea turtles. I'm curious about the GPS satellites themselves. In one way they ...
300D7309EF17's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
336 views

Where do ion propulsion's ions go? Do they remain in the solar system or shoot out into interstellar space?

Writing this answer has got me thinking. You can estimate the exhaust velocity of an ion engine using $$\frac{v}{c} = \sqrt{\frac{2E}{m_0 c^2}}. $$ Choose $E=$ 100 keV and $m_0 c^2=$ 931 MeV times ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
0 votes
0 answers
56 views

Why don't astronauts/ships/stations carry portable 'magnetospheres'? [duplicate]

As I understand it, cosmic radiation is one of the biggest dangers/problems to space exploration. Some cursory research seems to suggest that it wouldn't take very strong magnetic fields to deflect ...
T3db0t's user avatar
  • 109
1 vote
1 answer
575 views

Can it be realistic to build a artificial magnetic field around Mars? [duplicate]

I was wondering how realistic it is to build an artificial magnetic field around Mars using electromagnetism. So my question is; what kind of current would be needed in a loop around Mars' equator to ...
朱軒德's user avatar
  • 113
2 votes
0 answers
73 views

Can a spaceship land on a strongly magnetic planet? [closed]

What would happen to a spaceship if it tried to land on a planet that had a magnetic field as strong as Jupiter's?
Professor Quasar 's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
710 views

Can objects be deorbited by a satellite using a magnetic field?

Can a magnetic field be made around a satellite for a split second to gain or loose momentum from another satellite or debris with a few passes with a near-miss trajectories on larger debris? Could a ...
Muze's user avatar
  • 1