The THEMIS Magnetic Cleanliness Program

• DOI: 10.1007/s11214-008-9423-3
• Publication Date: 2008-08-19T04:41:19Z
• Authors: M. Ludlam; V. Angelopoulos; E. Taylor; R. C. Snare; J. D. Means; Y. S. Ge; P. Narvaez; H. U. Auster; O. Le Contel; D. Larson; T. Moreau
• Keywords: [PHYS.ASTR.EP] Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]; [PHYS.ASTR.EP]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

The five identical THEMIS Spacecraft, launched in February 2007, carry two magnetometers on each probe, one DC fluxgate (FGM) and one AC search coil (SCM). Due to the small size of the THEMIS probes, and the short length of the magnetometer booms, magnetic cleanliness was a particularly complex task for this medium sized mission. The requirements leveled on the spacecraft and instrument design required a detailed approach, but one that did not hamper the development of the probes during their short design, production and testing phase. In this paper we describe the magnetic cleanliness program’s requirements, design guidelines, program implementation, mission integration and test philosophy and present test results, and mission on-orbit performance.