--------------------------------------------------------- NSSDC Master Catalog Display Experiment --------------------------------------------------------- Triaxial Fluxgate Magnetometer NSSDC ID: 73-085A-04 Mission Name: Mariner 10 Principal Investigator: Ness ------------------- Experiment mass: 4.30 kg Average experiment power: 13.60 W Average experiment bit rate: 1.05 kbps ------------------- Description This experiment consisted of two triaxial fluxgate magnetometers mounted on a common boom, 2.3 m and 5.8 m from the spacecraft, and designed to measure the vector magnetic field in the vicinity of Mercury and Venus and in the interplanetary medium. Outputs from the two magnetometers were simultaneously analyzed to separate ambient fields from spacecraft fields. Each sensor had dual operating ranges of +/-16 nT and +/-128 nT, with digitization accuracies of 0.03 nT and 0.26 nT, respectively. Bias offset capability extended the operating range to +/-3188 nT. During the primary phase of the mission (November 3, 1973, to March 29, 1974) and during the second and third Mercury encounters, 25 vectors per second were sampled by the primary outboard magnetometer and transmitted to Earth. At other times, a lower data rate mode was used during which five vectors per second were transmitted. The experiment functioned normally throughout the life of the spacecraft. ------------------- Discipline(s) Planetary Science/Fields and Particles Space Physics/Heliospheric Studies --------------------------------------------------------- NSSDC Master Catalog Display Experiment Personnel --------------------------------------------------------- Triaxial Fluxgate Magnetometer NSSDC ID: 73-085A-04 Principal Investigator Dr. Norman F. Ness Bartol Research Institute University of Delaware 217 Sharp Laboratory Newark, DE 19716 Electronic Mail BARTOL::NFNESS (NSI/DECNET) ----- Co-Investigator Prof. Yun Chow Whang Department of Mechanical Engineering Catholic University of America Washington, DC 20064 Electronic Mail LEPVAX::WBYCW (NSI/DECNET) ----- Dr. Ronald P. Lepping GSFC-Code 696 Electronic Mail RPL@LEPRPL.GSFC.NASA.GOV (INTERNET) LEPVAX::U5RPL (NSI/DECNET) ----- Dr. Kenneth W. Behannon 3145 Farnborough Court Silver Spring, MD 20906-1745 ----- Dr. Kenneth H. Schatten National Science Foundation Atmospheric Sciences Division, Rm 644 1800 G Street, NW Washington, DC 20550 Electronic Mail PACF::SCHATTEN (NSI/DECNET) ----- NSSDC Contact Dr. Edwin V. Bell, II Hughes STX Corporation Suite 400 7701 Greenbelt Road Greenbelt, MD 20770 Electronic Mail BELL@NSSDC (BITNET) BELL@NSSDC.GSFC.NASA.GOV (INTERNET) NSSDCA::BELL (NSI/DECNET) ----- General Contact Dr. Norman F. Ness Bartol Research Institute University of Delaware 217 Sharp Laboratory Newark, DE 19716 Electronic Mail BARTOL::NFNESS (NSI/DECNET) ----- --------------------------------------------------------- NSSDC Master Catalog Display Experiment Selected References --------------------------------------------------------- Triaxial Fluxgate Magnetometer NSSDC ID: 73-085A-04 1. Fairfield, D. H., and Behannon, K. W., Bow shock and magnetosheath waves at Mercury, J. Geophys. Res., 81, No. 22, 3897-3906, Aug. 1976. 2. Jackson, D. J., and Beard, D. B., Magnetic field of Mercury, J. Geophys. Res., 82, No. 19, 2828-2836, July 1977. 3. Lepping, R. P., and Behannon, K. W., Magnetic field directional discontinuities: Characteristics between 0.46 and 1.0 au, J. Geophys. Res., 91, No. A8, 8725-8741, Aug. 1986. 4. Ness, N. F., Behannon, K. W., Lepping, R. P., Whang, Y. C., and Schatten, K. H., Magnetic field observations near Venus: Preliminary results from Mariner 10, Science, 183, No. 4131, 1301-1306, Mar. 1974. 5. Ness, N. F., Behannon, K. W., Lepping, R. P., and Whang, Y. C., Magnetic field of Mercury: Part one, J. Geophys. Res., 80, No. 19, 2708-2716, July 1975. 6. Ness, N. F., Behannon, K. W., Lepping, R. P., and Whang, Y. C., Observations of Mercury's magnetic field, Icarus, 28, 479-488, 1976. 7. Ness, N. F., Behannon, K. W., Lepping, R. P., Whang, Y. C., and Schatten, K. H., Magnetic field observations near Mercury: Preliminary results from Mariner 10, Science, 185, No. 4146, 151-160, July 1974. 8. Whang, Y. C., Magnetospheric magnetic field of Mercury, J. Geophys. Res., 82, No. 7, 1024-1030, March 1977. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- For questions about this experiment, please contact: Dr. Edwin V. Bell, II, bell@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov, (301)441-4209 Hughes STX Corporation Suite 400 7701 Greenbelt Road Greenbelt, MD 20770 For questions about the NSSDC's information systems, please contact: Dr. James Thieman, thieman@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov, (301)286-9790 National Space Science Data Center, Code 633.2 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA Official: J. H. King, king@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov Last Updated: 1996-05-03 Output Generated: 1996-09-25 Programming by: E. V. Bell, II