Physicists from the University of Southampton are contributing to a novel geomagnetic monitoring satellite that will help maintain modern navigation systems including smartphones.

The collaboration with Iota Technology is developing payload technology that aims to go into service in 2024, prior to the decommissioning of existing satellites in the European Space Agency's SWARM constellation.

The new miniaturised magnetometer will allow nanosatellites to gather high-quality geomagnetic data that, until now, has only been possible with much larger spacecraft.

This vital dataset is an essential part of all modern navigation systems, providing accurate heading data to smartphones, cars, ships, aircraft and small satellites.

Professor Hendrik Ulbricht, Deputy Head and Director of Research for Physics and Astronomy, says: "Our research group is experienced in working with magnetic sensors and this is a great opportunity to work in the space development environment with a real end goal."

Iota Technology's SIGMA product is the first-ever nanosatellite capable of providing geomagnetic data for the World Magnetic Model. The University of Southampton will provide skills and expertise in magnetic field sensing and testing, as well as Printed Circuit Board (PCB) rapid prototyping operated by electronics engineer Gareth Savage.

The collaboration is funded through the national SPRINT (SPace Research and Innovation Network for Technology) business support programme.

Hugo Shelley, Director of Iota Technology said: "One of the main challenges in developing the next generation of geomagnetic monitoring satellites is miniaturisation. The magnetometry expertise at the University of Southampton will play a vital part in allowing us to make our technology smaller, without sacrificing the quality of the data that we can capture.

"With the European Space Agency SWARM satellites due to be decommissioned, we only have a short window of time to develop a sustainable service mission capable of recovering this key data. The SPRINT project will accelerate the development of our technology and enable us to build a demonstration model for launch in 2022."

Last month, the SIGMA project was announced as a $350,000 winner of the international National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) MagQuest competition, a global open innovation challenge accelerating novel data collection methodologies. The technology will continue development in the European Space Agency (ESA) Business Incubation Centre in Harwell over the next 12 months.

Striking pieces of artwork inspired by astrophysics research at the University of Southampton have been announced as the winners of the #SotonAstroArt competition.

Nine winners have been celebrated across three age categories in the international contest, which invited artists to explore cutting-edge Southampton research on supernovae, dark energy and the life cycle of stars.

The #SotonAstroArt competition attracted dozens of entries from around the world during the COVID-19 lockdown, spurred on by a series of informative and playful videos from Outreach Leader Dr Sadie Jones on the Soton Astrodome YouTube channel.

The winners include a Life Cycle of a Star Diorama by Hampshire schoolgirl Lexi in the 0 to 11 age category, a colourful supernova creation by Krutika in India in the 12 to 18 category, and an exploding star splatter painting by artist Madeleina Kay in the 19+ age group.

"Throughout the whole #SotonAstroArt project these last three years I've been totally amazed by the range of ideas and creativity that the subject of stars and space awakens in people," Sadie says.

"This has affected the way I explain this science and it's just really showed me that we shouldn't put people into boxes such as 'artist' or 'scientist'; we are all just people, and we can ultimately be both at the same time."

#SotonAstroArt inspired many young people to learn about the life cycle of stars for the first time, such as in Merseyside where 0 to 11 category prize winner Amy created her entry in an activity for her primary school class.

The University of Southampton Supernova Group, led by Professor Mark Sullivan, is studying these powerful stellar explosions to help understand the fate of the universe. The group is based in the School of Physics and Astronomy, one of the top five departments of its kind in the Russell Group for research output.

#SotonAstroArt will continue with two free, online workshops on Saturday 14th November for Hands-on Humanities Day, part of the Human Worlds Festival organised by the Public Engagement with Research Unit (PERu). In these workshops Dr Sadie Jones will invite participants to once again learn about supernova and make their own 'research inspired' space art.