A technology competition to plan a brand new technique of more accurately measuring Earth’s magnetic field is entering its final phase, with one competing team particularly utilizing quantum effects in diamonds to measure shifts within the magnetic field.
Scientists map and track Earth’s magnetic field using something called the World Magnetic Model (WMM), which was jointly developed by the British Geological Survey and the US National Geophysical Data Center. Because Earth’s magnetic poles tend to wander, the WMM should be updated commonly, not less than every five years. For the reason that WMM is utilized by aviation authorities, NATO, defense ministries and shipping navigation, any inaccuracies could ultimately result in potentially dangerous scenarios, reminiscent of ships and planes going astray.
And although we may not understand it, over a billion of us make use of Earth’s geomagnetic field in our every day lives as our smartphones contain a tool that uses the WMM to account for the deviation between magnetic north and true geographical north, which is a component of how your phone knows which way you’re pointing it.
In an effort to spur advancements in how we measure Earth’s geomagnetic field, Luminary Labs in Latest York is holding the MagQuest competition. MagQuest has just announced which three teams will progress from phase 3, receiving $900,000 prize money in the method, and entering the ultimate round and the prospect to win $2.1 million.
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First up is Canada’s SBQuantum, who’ve partnered with satellite technology company Spire Global to develop and launch their diamond-powered geomagnetic data collection from low-Earth orbit project on a cubesat. Their quantum magnetometers use a technology called nitrogen emptiness diamonds. These diamonds are specifically engineered in order that their usual lattice of carbon atoms is disrupted by the position of a nitrogen atom next to a small void. This frees up two electrons throughout the diamond, which subsequently have their quantum state excited by the appliance of green laser light. The excited electrons interact with the Earth’s magnetic field and emit red light, and he amount of red light indicates the strength and orientation of the magnetic field at that location.
Such measurements will be plagued with noise, and on space missions a magnetometer is frequently placed on a boom protruding from the spacecraft to isolate the instrument from sources of magnetic field noise coming the craft itself, while adding extra complexity, cost and risk to a mission. Nevertheless, SBQuantum have developed machine-learning algorithms that may cut through this interference, allowing the quantum magnetometer to be housed inside a spacecraft.
This diamond-powered quantum magnetometer technology has already been tested by SBQuantum at NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center. As a part of the ultimate phase of MagQuest, SBQuantum and Spire Global must fly the magnetometers in space and successfully measure the magnetic field from low-Earth orbit.
“Testing the instrument in space represents a unbelievable opportunity to point out all the industry what we now have built, and to focus on the tremendous potential of quantum-enabled sensors not just for aerospace, but for various other industry verticals as well,” said David Roy-Guay, CEO and co-founder of SBQuantum, in a statement.
SBQuantum and Spire Global will probably be joined in the ultimate phase of the competition by two other teams competing for the $2.1 million money prize.
A bunch from the University of Colorado, Boulder, have designed COSMO, the Compact Space-borne Magnetic Observatory, which is a 6U (six-unit) cubesat, with a rubidium magnetometer at one end and the spacecraft components that produce essentially the most magnetic noise at the opposite. The magnetometer on this case operates by measuring the magnetic spin of rubidium in Earth’s magnetic field.
A California-headquartered company called Stellar Solutions are utilizing technology that they previously developed for attempting to predict earthquakes through electromagnetic emissions, to observe the Earth’s magnetic field. Their Global Acquisition of Magnetic Measurements at Altitude (GAMMA) project involves adding magnetometers as small, easily integrated payloads piggybacking on already planned satellite missions, subsequently reducing costs.
Iota Technology is in partnership with Oxford Space Systems on the Harwell Science Campus at Didcot within the UK and AAC Clyde Space who’ve offices all around the world, in constructing SIGMA, a Satellite for Geomagnetic Evaluation. It is a 3U (three-unit) cubesat that contains a digital magnetometer on the tip of a deployable boom.
The Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium, in partnership with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution within the U.S., is taking a distinct tact with their Terrestrial and Seafloor Automated Magnetic Observatories project that will probably be based on Earth fairly than in space. Taking measurements on Earth is more precise just because the variations within the magnetic field originate throughout the Earth, not in space. The Terrestrial and Seafloor Automated Magnetic Observatories project involves an array of networked, automated magnetic observatories that will be distributed either on land or on the seafloor, and which will be deployed at almost any location to make sure complete coverage.
The ultimate phase of the MagQuest challenge will last for 20 months from September 2023 onwards, wherein the three finalists must successfully test their experiments out in the sphere. Space.com wishes all teams one of the best of luck!