Responsible	Samuel Schoenenberger
Last Updated	10/12/2025, 12:48:54 PM
Last Author	Kai Berszin

Magnetorqer

Scope

This page describes the hardware properties of the Magnetorquer and the mathematical description of the functionality of a Magnetorquer.

CubeTorquer

The Magnetorquer has the following specifications: More specifications can be found on the CubeSpace Website

Mathematical Description

The magnetorquers are modelled as a resistor and an inductor connected in series. We assume they have a resistance $R$ on the scale of $10^1 \;\Omega$ and inductance $L$ on the scale of $10^{-6}\;H$. That would give us the time constant of the system $\frac{L}{R}$ at the scale of $10^{-7}\;s$. Our simulations run with the timestep of $0.01$ seconds, so we can safely disregard the electrical dynamics of the magnetorquers.

The simulated dynamics are

$$i = \frac{U}{R} \vec{\tau} = i\cdot o \cdot \vec{a} \times \vec{B_{sat}}.$$

$i$ is the electric current flowing through the magnetorquer, $U$ is the input voltage, $R$ is the resistance, $o$ is the area of the coil, $\vec{a}$ is the axis of the magnetorquer, $\vec{\tau}$ is the torque exerted on the satellite and $\vec{B_{sat}}$ is the Earth's magnetic field in the satellite coordinate frame.

The power consumed by the magnetorquer is $P = i^2\cdot R$.