The scientific objectives of ØRSTED are :

to study the generation of the magnetic fields in the fluid core and the magnetic and electrical properties of the solid earth,
to study the Earth's magnetic field as the controlling parameter of the magnetosphere, its interaction with the Solar wind plasma, and all the physical processes that take place in the Earth's plasma environment, including phenomena like aurora and magnetic storms.

To fulfill these scientific objectives, the payload consist in the following subsystems :

a Compact Spherical Coil (CSC) triaxial magnetometer for measuring magnetic field vectors,
an Overhauser proton-precession magnetometer (OVH) for measuring magnetic field amplitude,
a Star Imager (SIM) to determine the attitude of the CSC magnetometer,
a Six solid-state Charged Particles Detectors (CPD) to measure energetic particle radiation in the upper polar atmosphere,
a TurboRogue GPS receiver is used for atmospheric profiling.

Considering the long term involvement of the french scientific community in studies of the internal and external magnetic fields, CNES provided the Overhauser magnetometer (OVH), developped by the LETI (CEA).

ØRSTED has been successfully launched on the 23rd of february, 1999, from Vandenberg, California.
The satellite is still flying and acquiring measurements of the Earth's magnetic field.

The scientific results of ORSTED are detailed on the DMI site.

Amplitudes of the magnetic field (upper map) and its variations (lower map) in 20 years. In the South Atlantic the variations are over 10%. ©IPGP