{"id":351122,"date":"2026-03-17T17:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/351122\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T17:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:34:07","slug":"a-clever-software-patch-gave-this-ice-satellite-a-wild-new-trick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/351122\/","title":{"rendered":"A Clever Software Patch Gave This Ice Satellite a Wild New Trick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On January 18, the Sun released a powerful eruption of high-energy particles that reached Earth in a jiff. The eruption caused some of the most intense radiation storms on record, resulting in disturbances to Earth\u2019s magnetic field. Meanwhile, an ice-monitoring satellite had just received a software update to its navigation system, allowing it to observe the impact of the solar storm while also keeping a steady watch on the ice sheets.<\/p>\n<p>For nearly 16 years, the European Space Agency\u2019s (ESA) CryoSat has been measuring the thickness of polar sea ice and monitoring changes in Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. At the end of last year, ESA engineers remotely upgraded the software for one of the satellite\u2019s instruments. The new software allowed CryoSat to measure changes in Earth\u2019s magnetosphere, just in time to observe the aftermath of an intense geomagnetic storm.<\/p>\n<p>CryoSat\u2019s measurements of Earth\u2019s magnetic field are detailed in a <a href=\"https:\/\/agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1029\/2025GL116964\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">study<\/a> published in Geophysical Research Letters.<\/p>\n<p> Software upgrade <\/p>\n<p>CryoSat\u2019s platform magnetometer is designed to ensure the satellite orbits at the right altitude and directs its science instruments toward the right part of Earth\u2019s surface. The instrument was not originally intended to produce scientific data, but a recent software update gave it newfound skills.<\/p>\n<p>The upgrade allowed the magnetometer to measure changes in Earth\u2019s magnetosphere with scientific precision. While CryoSat maintains its original mission of monitoring ice sheets, it can now also work hand-in-hand with other satellites to produce a completely different type of data.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn essence, we use magnetometers to sense the Earth\u2019s magnetosphere, which then sends signals to the onboard computer to adjust the satellite\u2019s orientation, ensuring it achieves its mission objectives,\u201d Tommaso Parrinello, CryoSat mission manager, said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/Applications\/Observing_the_Earth\/FutureEO\/CryoSat\/How_does_an_ice_satellite_detect_a_geomagnetic_storm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a>. \u201cThe precision and low noise level of these measurements have led the scientific community to recognize their value as scientific data. Consequently, a new data packet is now generated by the onboard computer for scientific purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The satellite\u2019s upgraded instrument can now use its data to calibrate its measurements from ESA\u2019s three-satellite Swarm mission, which is dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of Earth\u2019s magnetic field. CryoSat\u2019s platform magnetometer is being used to measure Earth\u2019s stronger external magnetic field variations, providing complementary datasets to other missions.<\/p>\n<p> Stormy weather <\/p>\n<p>The newly updated CryoSat instrument was able to put its new skills to use during January\u2019s geomagnetic storm. Over the course of three days, the satellite measured the storm\u2019s intensity and recorded disturbances in Earth\u2019s magnetic field.<\/p>\n<p>The satellite\u2019s new ability to measure changes in the magnetic field and complement data gathered by the Swarm mission adds new depths to scientific research at no additional cost. \u201cThis is about leveraging data from an existing system that has been used for the past 16 years to actively control the satellite\u2019s orientation in space,\u201d Parrinello said. \u201cThere is lots of exciting science still to come as both missions fly on well beyond their design lifetimes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On January 18, the Sun released a powerful eruption of high-energy particles that reached Earth in a jiff.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[120910,10805,61,60,35968,82,247],"class_list":["post-351122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-arctic-sea-ice","tag-esa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-magnetic-field","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}