Io-1 Satellite
Bartington Instruments has designed and built Spacemag®-2 – a three-axis fluxgate magnetometer – for Iota Technology’s CubeSat Io-1 satellite, which is participating in MagQuest.
The project secured funding from the UK Space Agency’s International Bilateral Fund.
This mission launched into space on 30 March 2026.
In-flight commissioning is now in progress.
About MagQuest
MagQuest is a project to map the Earth’s magnetic field and update the World Magnetic Model (WMM). The project is run by the United States’ National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Iota Technology’s CubeSat Io-1 is one of three teams involved. The project will operate for 3 years.
Io-1 will help create an updated WMM, which will offer important benefits for navigation, attitude and heading applications for vehicles and systems on land, sea, air, and in space, plus over a billion smartphones that use WMM for satnav.