Measurement of Magnetic Field Fluctuations in the Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter Missions

Abstract

Abstract The search‐coil magnetometer (SCM) measures the magnetic signature of solar wind fluctuations with three components in the 3 Hz–50 kHz range and one single component in the 1 kHz–1 MHz range. This instrument is important for providing in situ observations of transients caused by interplanetary shocks and reconnection, for the identification of electromagnetic wave modes in plasmas and the determination of their characteristics (planarity, polarization, ellipticity, and k ‐vector) and for studying the turbulent cascade in the kinetic range. Two similar triaxial search‐coils have been built for the Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter missions. Here we describe the science objectives of both missions which led to the SCM design and present the characteristics of the two instruments.