Zhuxuan Zou, Yuming Wang, Tielong Zhang, Guoqiang Wang, Sudong Xiao, Zonghao Pan, Zhoubin Zhang, Wei Yan, Yang Du, Yutian Chi, Long Cheng, Zhiyong Wu, Xinjun Hao, Yiren Li, Kai Liu, Manming Chen, Zhenpeng Su, Chenglong Shen, Mengjiao Xu, Jingnan Guo
Mars Orbiter Magnetometer (MOMAG) is one of seven science payloads onboard Tianwen-1's orbiter. Unlike most of the satellites, Tianwen-1's orbiter is not magnetically cleaned, and the boom where placed the magnetometer's sensors is not long enough. These pose many challenges to the magnetic field data processing. In this paper, we introduce the in-flight calibration process of the Tianwen-1/MOMAG. The magnetic interference from the spacecraft, including spacecraft generated dynamic field and slowly-changing offsets are cleaned in sequence. Then the calibrated magnetic field data are compared with the data from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN). We find that some physical structures in the solar wind are consistent between the two data sets, and the distributions of the magnetic field strength in the solar wind are very similar. These results suggest that the in-flight calibration of the MOMAG is successful and the MOMAG provides reliable data for scientific research.
Yutian Chi, Chenglong Shen, Long Cheng, Bingkun Yu, Bin Miao, Yuming Wang, Tielong Zhang, Zhuxuan Zou, Mengjiao Xu, Zonghao Pan, Zhenpeng Su, Jingnan Guo, Dongwei Mao, Zhihui Zhong, Zhiyong Zhang, Junyan Liu, Can Wang, Zhiyong Wu, Guoqiang Wang, Sudong Xiao, Kai Liu, Xinjun Hao, Yiren Li, Manming Chen, Yang Du
Tianwen-1 spacecraft (Wan et al. 2020) is China's first Mars exploration mission. The Mars Orbiter Magnetometer (MOMAG) is a scientific instrument aboard the Tianwen-1 mission that is designed to study magnetic fields at Mars, including the solar wind to the magnetosheath and the ionosphere. Using the first Tianwen-1/MOMAG data that is publicly available, we present interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) and stream interaction region (SIR) catalogues based on in-situ observations at Mars between November 16, 2021, and December 31, 2021. We compared the magnetic field intensity and vector magnetic field measurements from Tianwen-1/MOMAG and Mars Atmospheric Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN)/MAG during the ICME and SIR interval and found a generally good consistency between them. Due to MAVEN's orbital adjustment since 2019, the Tianwen-1/MOMAG instrument is currently the almost unique interplanetary magnetic field monitor at Mars. The observations indicate that the MOMAG instrument on Tianwen-1 is performing well and can provide accurate measurements of the vector magnetic field in the near-Mars solar wind space. The multi-point observations combining MOMAG, MINPA, and MEPA on board Tianwen-1 with MAG, SWIA, and STATIC on board MAVEN will open a window to systematically study the characteristic of ICMEs and SIRs at Mars, and their influences on the Martian atmosphere and ionosphere.
Yuming Wang, Tielong Zhang, Guoqiang Wang, Sudong Xiao, Zhuxuan Zou, Long Cheng, Zonghao Pan, Kai Liu, Xinjun Hao, Yiren Li, Manming Chen, Zhoubin Zhang, Wei Yan, Zhenpeng Su, Zhiyong Wu, Chenglong Shen, Yutian Chi, Mengjiao Xu, Jingnan Guo, Yang Du
Mars Orbiter MAGnetometer (MOMAG) is a scientifc instrument onboard the orbiter of China's first mission for Mars -- Tianwen-1. It started to routinely measure the magnetic field from the solar wind to magnetic pile-up region surrounding Mars since November 13, 2021. Here we present its in-flight performance and first science results based on the first one and a half months' data. By comparing with the magnetic field data in the solar wind from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN), the magnetic field by MOMAG is at the same level in magnitude, and the same magnetic structures with the similar variations in three components could be found in MOMAG data. In the first one and a half months, we recognize 158 clear bow shock (BS) crossings from MOMAG data, whose locations statistically match well with the modeled average BS. We also identify 5 pairs of simultaneous BS crossings of the Tianwen-1's orbiter and MAVEN. These BS crossings confirm the global shape of modeled BS as well as the south-north asymmetry of the Martian BS. Two presented cases in this paper suggest that the BS is probably more dynamic at flank than near the nose. So far, MOMAG performs well, and provides accurate magnetic field vectors. MOMAG is continuously scanning the magnetic field surrounding Mars. These measurements complemented by observations from MAVEN will undoubtedly advance our understanding of the plasma environment of Mars.