The Magnetometer for the Space Weather Follow-On L1 (SWFO-L1) Mission

The Space Weather Follow-On L1 (SWFO-L1) mission is a NOAA mission (with NASA support) that will monitor upstream solar wind conditions at the Lagrangian L1 point. The objective of this mission is to provide critical data in near-real time that supports space weather forecasting efforts. SWFO-L1 instruments include a Solar Wind Plasma Sensor (SWiPS), Magnetometer (MAG), Supra Thermal Ion Sensor (STIS), X-Ray Flux monitor (XFM) and a Compact Coronagraph (CCOR). The MAG instrument, provided by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the University of New Hampshire in cooperation with the Austrian Academy of Sciences, consists of a "dual mag" implementation of two identical racetrack magnetometers on a 6-meter boom (a dual mag system is commonly used to reduce the dipole signature of spacecraft magnetic fields). The "racetrack" design incorporates an optimal geometry for fluxgate magnetometers, one that maximizes the alignment of the permalloy material (and windings) along the measurement axis. The SWFO-L1 spacecraft is scheduled to be launched in 2024, as a secondary payload on NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission.