• → European Space Agency

      • Space for Europe
      • Space News
      • Space in Images
      • Space in Videos
    • About Us

      • Welcome to ESA
      • DG's News and Views
      • For Member State Delegations
      • Business with ESA
      • ESA Exhibitions
      • ESA Publications
      • Careers at ESA
    • Our Activities

      • Space News
      • Observing the Earth
      • Human Spaceflight
      • Launchers
      • Navigation
      • Space Science
      • Space Engineering
      • Operations
      • Technology
      • Telecommunications & Integrated Applications
    • For Public

    • For Media

      • Media
      • ESA TV
      • Videos for professionals
      • Photos
    • For Educators

    • For Kids

    • ESA

    • Observing the Earth

    • Living Planet

    • Earth Explorers

    • Meteorological missions

    • ESA's Living Planet Programme
    • About ESA's Living Planet Programme
    • Earth Explorers
    • GOCE
    • SMOS
    • CryoSat-2
    • Swarm
    • ADM-Aeolus
    • EarthCARE
    • Future missions
    • Campaigns
    • Multimedia
    • Living Planet images
    • Living Planet videos
    • Help
    • Services
    • Subscribe

    ESA > Our Activities > Observing the Earth > The Living Planet Programme

    ESA Euronews: Measuring Earth's vital magnetic field

    Euronews_Geomag
    26 October 2012

    Earth's magnetosphere is an invisible shield, protecting our planet from harmful solar radiation. Many living organisms - from bacteria to insects or birds - seem to rely on Earth's magnetic field to navigate.

    Man has been doing so for a thousand years since the invention of the compass. But research shows the magnetic field is weakening and scientists are trying to understand why. Some believe it signals a pole reversal in progress, not an uncommon phenomenon in the history of our planet.

    As ground observatories fail to grasp the whole picture, we are sending magnetometers into orbit to try to measure the magnitude and the direction of the magnetic field. Find out more, this week, in Space.

    Loading...

    Rate this

    Views

    Share

    • Currently 0 out of 5 Stars.
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
    Rating: 0/5 (0 votes cast)

    Thank you for rating!

    You have already rated this page, you can only rate it once!

    Your rating has been changed, thanks for rating!

    476
    Tweet
    • Related missions
    • Swarm
    • Related Information
    • Euronews:
      Space website

    Connect with us

    • RSS
    • Youtube
    • Twitter
    • Flickr
    • G+
    • Facebook
    • Livestream
    • Subscribe
    • App Store
    • LATEST ARTICLES
    • · Rare merger reveals secrets of gal…
    • · Watching for hazards: ESA opens as…
    • · ESA astronaut Timothy Peake set fo…
    • · Space drives e-mobility
    • · Proba-V opens its eyes
    • FAQ

    • Jobs at ESA

    • Site Map

    • Contacts

    • Terms and conditions