In-flight characterization of satellite electromagnetic sensors Original Research Article

This paper presents the description of the inter-calibration methodology which will be used in the future flight of SICH-1M satellite to carry out the in-situ validation of new scientific instruments — Split Langmuir Probe and Rogovsky Coil — intended for the direct measurement of the spatial current density in space plasma. The transfer functions of these instruments and also this of Faraday Cup, used for the data quality estimation, are presented. Additional possibility to estimate the measurement results is provided using the simultaneously operating on-board magnetometers since these also permit to estimate indirectly the spatial current value. Other problem is that the onboard magnetometers are very sensitive to the service systems noise. An original way to overcome this problem onboard small satellites where the boom deployment is not possible to realize is discussed in the paper. It proposed to use a rotating microsatellite with flexible booms or ropes (power supply/data retrieval wires in the simplest case) at the end of which two flux-gate magnetometers are fixed, and a calibration coil fixed on microsatellite body. The given mathematical expressions and numeric example confirm the possibility to realize such a flexible construction with high metrological parameters.