Low Earth Orbit
A summary of near-Earth spacecraft carrying high quality magnetometers. For more info, see e.g. Olsen & Stolle, 2012. The focus here is on satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) that produced data suitable for geomagnetic field modelling, though these satellites typically also carry instruments that measure the electric field and plasma environment.
| Mission name | Years | Description | Data access |
|---|---|---|---|
| POGO | 1965-1971 | [NASA] “Polar Orbiting Geophysical Observatories” (OGO-2,4,6) | DTU |
| Magsat | 1979-1980 | [NASA] First “high accuracy” vector magnetometry in space | DTU, NASA |
| Ørsted | 1999-2014 | Led by what is now DTU Space | DTU |
| CHAMP | 2000-2010 | Led by GFZ & DLR | GFZ, VirES |
| SAC-C | 2001-2004 | Led by CONAE & NASA | DTU |
| Swarm | 2013-… | ESA Earth Explorer | ESA / VirES |
| CSES | 2018-… | China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite | |
| MSS | 2023-… | Macau Science Satellites | MSS Data Centre |
| NanoMagSat | 2027-… | ESA Scout Mission |
Schematic of a Swarm spacecraft (view in 3D):
Image credit: ESA