Hogan Eighfansyah Susilo, Poki Agung Budiantoro, Ery Fitrianingsih, Hasan Mayditia, Eriko Nasemudin Nasser, Adi Farmasiantoro, Ahmad Fauzi, Widodo Slamet, Andi Mukhtar Tahir, Nindhita Pratiwi
Magnetic cleanliness is essential for small satellites carrying sensitive payloads such as magnetometers and particle detectors. Reaction wheel assemblies (RWAs) represent a primary source of stray magnetic fields, requiring effective shielding under strict mass and volume constraints. This study uses three-dimensional finite element analysis (FEM) in ANSYS Maxwell to evaluate the shielding effectiveness (SE) of high-permeability alloys (Mu-metal and Permalloy 80) and low-carbon steels (AISI 1008/1010) at thicknesses of 1–3 mm, with aluminum 6061-T6 as a non-magnetic baseline, within a cylindrical RWA enclosure geometry. Results reveal a critical design trade-off: High-permeability alloys provide superior attenuation (>65 dB at 100 mm; residual field <150 nT) and high mass efficiency (>700 dB/kg) but saturate at low flux density (0.8 T) and are costly. Low-carbon steels offer moderate SE (34–40 dB) with far higher saturation tolerance (2.2 T), structural robustness, and lower cost. Thickness scaling shows diminishing returns beyond 2 mm for high-permeability materials, whereas steels improve more linearly. Rather than proposing a new shielding concept, this study applies an integrated FEM-based evaluation approach for small satellite platforms to consistently assess shielding effectiveness, nonlinear saturation behavior, thickness scaling, and mass efficiency of candidate materials within a reaction-wheel-representative geometry under identical boundary conditions. © (2026), (SAREM Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamiferos). All rights reserved.
Research Centre for Satellite Technology, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Bogor, 16310, Indonesia; Atmospheric and Planetary Science Department, Institut Teknologi Sumatera, Lampung Selatan, 35365, Indonesia