The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency hopes that a global competition holds the key to finding new, innovative ways to collect geomagnetic data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With $1.2 million in prize money up for grabs, the NGA\u2019s MagQuest competition wants to inspire people to find new ways to ensure that there is reliable, sustainable geomagnetic data to feed into the World Magnetic Model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Earth\u2019s magnetic poles are a key source of geolocation data, but gathering that data is a challenge. The planet\u2019s magnetic poles do not align with the geographic poles, and to make matters more complicated, Earth\u2019s magnetic poles are constantly moving. Maintained by both the NGA and the United Kingdom\u2019s Defence Geographic Centre, the World Magnetic Map accounts for those differences, allowing millions of users to use the Earth\u2019s geomagnetic poles for geolocation and navigation. According to the NGA, the model is embedded in thousands of systems and is critical in supporting navigation for the military\u2019s submarines, satellites and aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnyone who uses GPS relies on the World Magnetic Model,\u201d said Richard Salman, director of NGA\u2019s office of geomatics, when the contest was announced in March. \u201cMagQuest is a critical component of NGA\u2019s work to develop a new system for measuring Earth\u2019s geomagnetic field to power the future of navigation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The model is produced every five years by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but earlier this year they were forced to release an out-of-cycle update to the WMM to account for recent erratic movement of the north magnetic pole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The WMM is currently put together using measurements collected from space by the European Space Agency Swarm, but the NGA has recently expressed interest in identifying new, independent methods to locate the earth\u2019s geomagnetic poles that will ensure the model\u2019s reliability and sustainability. To that end, the NGA launched the $1.2 million MagQuest competition in March as a way to solicit innovative ways to measure the planet\u2019s magnetic field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On June 20, the NGA announced the 10 winners of the contest\u2019s first phase, each of whom will receive $20,000 for their work so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrom seafloor observatories to satellites, the breadth of ideas that emerged from Phase 1 of MagQuest is impressive and energizing,\u201d Salman said. \u201cWe look forward to seeing the novel thinking and new technologies solvers will bring to Phase 2 of the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NGA reported there were 40 submissions for the first part of MagQuest. In phase 2, the NGA is looking for more fleshed out proposals that include detail designs and data collection methodologies. The second phase is open to participants from the first phase as well as new participants. The NGA will distribute $1 million in prizes to the five winners. Submissions are due Aug. 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NGA has stated that it could add a third phase, or more, with another $2.5 million up for grabs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s $1.2 million MagQuest competition is drawing on participants from around the world to find new ways to collect geomagnetic data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":46922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":15,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,106,29,15,32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3143],"class_list":["post-25622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battlefield-tech","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-intel-geoint","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"4VSADE67GVCCZKM55MIL2JS5YY","arc_canonical_url":"\/intel-geoint\/2019\/06\/20\/could-a-contest-unlock-a-new-way-to-find-magnetic-north\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n