First Results from the RPC Magnetometer Experiment during the Approach Phase to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Ingo Richter1, Karl-Heinz Glassmeier2, Christoph Koenders1, Chris Carr3, Emanuele Cupido3, Claire Vallat4, Uwe M Motschmann5, Bruce Tsurutani6 and Martin Volwerk7, (1)Technical University of Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany, (2)Institute of Geophysics and extraterrestrial Physics, Technical University of Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany, (3)Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom, (4)European Space Agency, Villanueva De La Can, Spain, (5)DLR Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany, (6)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (7)Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Abstract:
The European Space Agency's spacecraft ROSETTA has reached its final destination, the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The ROSETTA orbiter is equipped with a complete plasma package named RPC (ROSETTA Plasma Consortium). Included is the magnetometer system RPC-MAG which consists of 2 triaxial Fluxgate magnetometers located on a 1.5 m long boom outside the spacecraft. During the approach phase to the comet magnetic field measurements have been performed since May 2014. We will report on these measurements showing the evolution of the magnetic field from the solar wind dominated to a cometary influenced plasma. A detailed discussion of the observed signatures will be presented in order to separate spacecraft generated disturbances from real cometary signals. The very first results of the magnetic field measurements will be compared with theoretically expected structures.
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