Enabling Space Physics at Scale: Miniaturizing Spaceflight Fields Measurements
Dr. Matt Finley
Abstract: High fidelity measurements of the in-situ magnetic and electric field in space plasmas help to enable our understanding of the various physical phenomena that couple mass, momentum, and energy through near-Earth space and our solar system. It is often desirable to have multiple spacecraft making simultaneous measurements such that the temporal and spatial structure of these phenomena can be better understood. As these constellations of satellites become larger, the individual spacecraft often need to become smaller and lower cost. This has resulted in a widespread effort to miniaturize scientific instrumentation for easier compatibility with small space vehicles (e.g., CubeSats and NanoSats). This colloquium will outline our recent developments towards a miniaturized search coil magnetometer, discuss some of the data processing algorithms that we developed to enable high quality measurement of magnetic and electric fields from smaller platforms with fewer instrumental accommodations (e.g., fewer stringent requirements for EMI or a reduced ability to deploy instruments far from the spacecraft body) and highlight the applicability of our nonparametric event detection techniques as a means of data prioritization to allow greater scientific return from future spaceflight missions.
Bio: Dr. Matthew G. Finley is an Assistant Research Scientist in the University of Iowa’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. Finley rejoined the department in 2025 as a Co-Investigator on the TRACERS mission. His research interests include the design and deployment of novel interference mitigation technique for spaceflight fields instruments, the miniaturization of magnetic field sensors for CubeSat and NanoSat applications, and enabling operational scientific autonomy through the development of nonparametric data prioritization algorithms for spacecraft telemetry. Finley received his BS, MS, and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Iowa in 2018, 2019, and 2021, respectively. Following the completion of his PhD, he transitioned from the field of optical metrology to space physics through an appointment as a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in the Miles Research Laboratory at Iowa in 2022, followed by an appointment as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Geospace Physics Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in 2023. When Matt isn’t at work he can be found enjoying live music, reading bad science fiction, and attempting to tame his once-feral cat, Huck (much to the amusement of his wife).
To participate in this event virtually via Zoom, go to https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/99306007946?pwd=wtzrRHej2ObPAPGLYchJanJagWBPv3.1&from=addon.