Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Spacecraft Magnetic Test Facility

NASA’s Magnetic Test Facility at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The building is made of “nonmagnetic materials such as wood an aluminum” and has a large coil system that cancels out Earth’s magnetic field.
NASA’s Magnetic Test Facility at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The building is made of “nonmagnetic materials such as wood an aluminum” and has a large coil system that cancels out Earth’s magnetic field.

A Unique Resource for Magnetic Testing and Calibration

The Spacecraft Magnetic Test Facility is one of three unique facilities in the world and is the only operational facility in the Western Hemisphere.  This facility is located at Area 300 which is located off Goddard’s main campus, where it provides magnetically quiet and stable facilities.  These facilities consist of three separate Helmholtz coil facilities that can be used to perform magnetic measurements, testing, and calibration for either Low Earth Orbit (LEO) or interplanetary missions.  The three coil systems are the 42’ coil (Building 305), the 22’ coil (Building 303) and the high field coil (Building 307).  Between the three facilities, testing can be performed on all sizes of flight hardware ranging from magnetometers/instruments, to CubeSats or up to a mid-size spacecraft.  These facilities can cancel out Earth’s magnetic field to create a magnetically quiet area that can be used for precision testing and measurements.  They can also be used to generate an artificial field that can be used to testing can calibration.  Some of the services provided are:

  • Magnetic dipole moment determination
  • Magnetic multipole moment determination
  • Dynamic magnetic characterization
  • Hysteresis measurement (perm/de-perm)
  • Magnetometer calibration
  • Degaussing
42’ Braunbek Configuration Helmholtz Coil System.
42’ Braunbek Configuration Helmholtz Coil System.

The large coil facility consists of Braunbek configuration of a Helmholtz coil with a diameter of 42’ feet.  This facility is a strategic national asset and a registered national historic site.  Some quick specifications are:

Area of homogeneity: 2-meters

Artificial fields: ± 55,000 nano-Tesla

Man sitting on Apollo 16 Lunar Roving Vehicle Magnetic during testing in 1971
Apollo 16 Lunar Roving Vehicle Magnetic Tests in 1971

The Spacecraft Magnetic Test Facility is managed by ETD’s
Mechanical Systems Division (Code 540)