Difficulty in making low noise magnetic measurements is a significant challenge to the use of cube‐satellite (CubeSat) platforms for scientific constellation class missions to study the magnetosphere. Sufficient resolution is required to resolve three‐dimensional spatiotemporal structures of the magnetic field variations accompanying both waves and current systems of the nonuniform plasmas controlling dynamic magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling. This paper describes the design, validation, and test of a flight‐ready, miniature, low‐mass, low‐power, and low‐magnetic noise boom‐mounted fluxgate magnetometer for CubeSat applications. The miniature instrument achieves a magnetic noise floor of 150–200 pT/√Hz at 1 Hz, consumes 400 mW of power, has a mass of 121 g (sensor and boom), stows on the hull, and deploys on a 60 cm boom from a three‐unit CubeSat reducing the noise from the onboard reaction wheel to less than 1.5 nT at the sensor. The instrument's capabilities will be demonstrated and validated in space in late 2016 following the launch of the University of Alberta Ex‐Alta 1 CubeSat, part of the QB50 constellation mission. We illustrate the potential scientific returns and utility of using a CubeSats carrying such fluxgate magnetometers to constitute a magnetospheric constellation using example data from the low‐Earth orbit European Space Agency Swarm mission. Swarm data reveal significant changes in the spatiotemporal characteristics of the magnetic fields in the coupled magnetosphere‐ionosphere system, even when the spacecraft are separated by only approximately 10 s along track and approximately 1.4° in longitude.
The simultaneous evaporation and condensation of multiple volatile components from multicomponent aerosol droplets leads to changes in droplet size, composition and temperature.
A simple to make, multifunctional, heatable, and sprayable superhydrophobic and electrically conductive coating is developed by dispersing carbon nanofibers (CNFs) into a water repelling polymer matrix. The developed coating exhibits an average static and hysteresis contact angles of 160° and 5°, respectively. An electrical conductivity of 1100 S m−1 and a thermal conductivity of 0.001 W m−1 K−1 are obtained with a sample of dimensions: 3 cm × 1 cm × 20 µm. A 12 µm thick coating under an average electric current of 75 mA reaches to a surface temperature of more than 140 °C for a dry coating. The coating when in contact with ice or water (water at 25 °C for 300 h, and at 85 °C for less than an hour) does not show a deterioration of wetting performance. Furthermore, it is shown how this coating can be used to mitigate the ice formation on cold surfaces. The ability of application of the developed coating to various substrates is also shown.
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