Moving charges produce magnetic fields. Since thermal transients produce an electric current, thermal transients produce magnetic fields. It has been shown that the generation of these magnetic fields in the vicinity of sensitive instruments leads to a degradation of recorded data.

Getting closer to a theoretical solution and to an effective mitigation technique will help magnetic missions in ESA’s Science programme, Earth Observation programme and, in fact, all missions that employ magnetic-sensitive sensors.

Magnetometers are fundamental instruments used in planetary and space science. They are able to measure magnetic fields originating in a planet’s interior, past fields encapsulated in rocks in the crust, as well as magnetic fields generated by the motion of charged particles in the plasma environments of ionospheres, magnetospheres and interplanetary space.