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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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 ...
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1answer
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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,...
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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 ...
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Has any rover dragged a magnet across martian soil to see what gets picked up? Any magnetic measurements of specific rocks or particles of any kind?
On Earth, amateur and sometimes professional scientists collect dust from the tops of buildings or mountians (see also) and separate it with a magnet to obtain meteoric material. Not all meteoric ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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1answer
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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: ...
4
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1answer
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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 ...
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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 ...
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1answer
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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 ...
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2answers
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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 ...
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1answer
107 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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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? ...
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2answers
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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 ...
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1answer
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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 ...
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1answer
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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 ...
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0answers
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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 ...
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1answer
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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 ...
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1answer
157 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 ...
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1answer
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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 ...
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0answers
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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?
...
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1answer
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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 ...
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1answer
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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 "...
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1answer
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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 ...
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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 ...
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1answer
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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 ...
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3answers
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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?
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1answer
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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 ...
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1answer
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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 ...
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0answers
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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 ...
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1answer
453 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 ...
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0answers
69 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?
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2answers
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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 ...
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2answers
601 views
Artificial Magnetosphere to Terra-form Mars?
I was reading a 2017 article on a potential that Mars could be terraformed using a magneto-tail; A Future Mars Environment for Science and Exploration. This would basically entail sticking a giant ...
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What kind of antimatter engine is this?
I found this diagram while looking up diamagnetic machines. Could anyone explain what engine this is?
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Would a flat superconductor create surface area to increase its diamagnetic field uni or bilaterally to propel in space? [closed]
Instead of using a standard solar sail material could the sail be built of diamagnetic material and sail faster? Is there a way to make a thin flat sail that both uses the dimagnetic properties of a ...
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2answers
91 views
Can the Sun's magnetic field be used to propel a solar satellite?
Can diamagnetic materials or a diamagnetic devise be used to propel using the magnetic field of the Sun in a solar polar magnetic assisted slingshot?
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0answers
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How does Mars have a Bow Shock and proton aurora? What is a hydrogen corona?
I just saw the NASA video Mars Proton Aurora below and I'm confused, (which by itself is unremarkable).
Without a planetary magnetic field, what force produces a bow shock in the solar wind at Mars, ...
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0answers
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What would be the optimal times and conditions to watch for to try to hear whistlers?
I have an NASA Inspire VLF-3 radio receiver kit that I'm going to put together. It amplifies VLF electromagnetic signals that are already in the audio frequency range and makes them audible. One of ...
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1answer
376 views
What is the nature of a “flux tube” between Saturn and Enceladus, and what does “L‐shell=4” mean?
The NASA JPL YouTube video Sounds of Saturn: Hear Radio Emissions of the Planet and Its Moon Enceladus (below, also here) provides and audio and spectral representation of plasma waves recored by ...
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1answer
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Could a spacecraft be propelled by the deflection of a very high number of charged particles?
I am wondering if a spacecraft could be propelled through interplanetary space via the deflection and/or displacement of a very high number of charged particles contained within the Sun's solar wind.
...
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Which objects in our solar system are naturally protected from solar flares?
Outside of Earth, are there any objects (planets, moons, asteroids) in our solar system that are naturally shielded from the radiation of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs)?
Asked ...
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1answer
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How possible is it to have a habitable planet with no moon like Earth has?
This article describes how Earth's Moon helps Earth's core remain liquid, thus maintaining our magnetic field. The magnetic field, in turn, protects life on Earth from radiation. To what extent is it ...
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Can you use magnets to travel through space?
My thought process is that there is very little friction in space minus gravitational pull. Which could be a good thing if you wanted to go faster or slow down. The question is, is it possible to ...
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1answer
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Where are we in the current effort to make mars habitable? [closed]
I feel like this should be a massive effort put forth by all countries. As a civilization, our population is growing at a break-neck rate. Not only would it be a fail-safe should something happen to ...
