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The Origins of EZIE-Mag

APL’s Rob Barnes, EZIE ground systems engineer, and , EZIE project scientist, had been brainstorming ideas for affordable, ground-based magnetometers deployed to anyone with an interest in science well before EZIE.

However, finding the right technology to reproduce effects similar to magnetometers — which typically cost between $25,000 and $500,000 — proved challenging.

“It should be inclusive, not exclusive,” said Gjerloev of access to magnetometers. “The problem was that it just wasn’t feasible.”

Then, on a whim, Barnes contacted a company that had created a sensor capable of making measurements on the ground for a lower cost. Inspired by work he’d done with his niece and nephew for science fair projects, Barnes enlisted a Raspberry Pi, a small, single-board computer.

Barnes then added extra features such as GPS to determine time and location, put it all together, and created the first version of what would become EZIE-Mag.

The cost? Roughly $200.

“When we distribute EZIE-Mags, the data that’s going to come in from all these schools and places is actually going to be included as part of the mission database,” Barnes said. “We’re going to do real science with it.”

A Moment of “Vindication”

One of the EZIE-Mag’s first real tests was when Barnes placed it in his backyard during a storm, then compared the results gathered from the kit to data from a magnetometer run by the U.S. Geological Survey in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The results were nearly identical.

“That was kind of vindication,” said Barnes. “Whenever we talk to the scientific community and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got this really cheap magnetometer that can do this,’ they’re like, ‘You can’t possibly reproduce a $100,000 magnetometer for like a few bucks.’ And we go, ‘here’s the results.’ That’s kind of cool.”

The EZIE-Mag will produce science-quality measurements complementing the more precise results generated by science-grade magnetometers. The next step for the EZIE team: figuring out how to mass produce and distribute the kits.

The team recruited Adebayo Eisape, an electrical engineering doctoral student at ����ֱ�� University, to help formalize the process of developing EZIE-Mag so that each kit is easy to assemble.

“You get all the parts and they just snap together, and you’re done,” said Barnes.

Eisape worked on getting the design for EZIE-Mag assembled, fabricating a printed circuit board, and prepping the kits for mass distribution. The team collaborated with APL’s Research and Exploratory Development Department to help build out hundreds of kits to hand out.

Because EZIE-Mag required the team to focus on optimizing for the end user instead of for the tool’s ultimate purpose, the process shifted Eisape’s thinking about design.

“It’s significantly different because you’re not just designing a thing for you to do your thing,” said Eisape. “You’re now designing a thing for everyone to be able to do a thing. It’s not just designing a super bespoke testing board or interface card. Now this needs to work, and it needs to work for everyone all the time.”

“EZIE” Access to Science

But it’s more than just a simpler assembly that makes EZIE-Mag unique. One goal of the mission is to make science more inclusive by reaching out to underserved communities, notably Indigenous communities, to help break down those barriers to access.

The EZIE mission is partnering with the Indigenous Education Institute and Little Singer Community School — a pre-K to eighth-grade school for the Navajo Nation — on the , which created five Indigenous-based, collaborative workspaces where students can learn and explore STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) topics.

The EZIE team is also reaching out to schools in underserved communities to provide an and allow young scientists to not only participate in the mission but also see the possibility of a future working in science.

“They’re actively participating, providing data that is used in our solutions,” said Gjerloev. “As a middle schooler or high schooler, you can say, ‘I’m actually providing data and making measurements that are important and being used for a NASA mission.’ That’s the way it should be. It’s much more exciting than sending out a flyer.”