Lessons Learned from Flight Observations of the GOES-R Magnetometer

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-16 observatory was launched on 19 November 2016. During daily on-orbit operations, shadowing of the inboard magnetometer sensor unit occurs due to spacecraft geometry and solar angle. Throughout the shadowing periods of the inboard magnetometer, anomalous excursions of 20 nT are observed. In addition to the excursions during shadow events, the measurement difference between the inboard and outboard magnetometer varies over the day, indicating erroneous measurements by one or both magnetometers. Another immediate on-orbit observation was that based on the deployment rotations, the zero offsets of the X and Y axes were found to be significantly different, ∼30 nT, from ground calibration data. Because of these observables, an extensive root cause investigation was undertaken to correct the magnetometer system for the next spacecraft in the GOES-R series. This paper documents the efforts of that activity and the lessons learned as a result of the investigation.