A Low Cost Magnetometer for Future Algerian Satellites: Evaluation of Earth Magnetic Field Modelling with Python

The recent objectives set by the Algerian Space Agency (ASAL) concern the development of a satellite platform. In this perspective, a set of instruments for attitude control and determination shall be developed. One of these instruments is the magnetometer. In fact, satellite attitude determination from the earth magnetic field measurement is commonly used for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. The first step of this development is the subject of this paper, where the data related to the earth magnetic field affecting the satellite is simulated using open source solution based on python libraries to compare the results with the powerful software dedicated to space applications (Systems Tool Kit: STK). The obtained results show that python is capable to model the earth magnetic field with small difference compared to STK. These results will ultimately allow us to choose the appropriate technological solution that will be used for the development of our in-house Earth’s magnetic field sensor.