The two Macau Science 1 satellites lifted off atop a Long March 2C rocket on Sunday.
China's space agency, the China National Space Administration , stated that the two satellites will make some of the most accurate measurements of Earth's magnetic field to date. They hope the mission will help shed new light on the formation of Earth's magnetic field and how it changes over time.
While we know that Earth's magnetism originates from the liquid metal in its molten outer core, we don't quite understand why the strength of the magnetism has decreased slightly since records began — it has weakened by about nine percent over the past 200 years,. The decrease has been most prominent between South America and Southwest Africa in the South Atlantic.
Still, the Macau Science 1 mission is tasked with making sense of the so-called South Atlantic Anomaly. It will do so by probing 3,000 km into Earth's interior. Both satellites have a series of impressive instruments ranging from high-precision magnetometers to detectors that monitor the surrounding space environment.three-satellite Swarm mission
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