The unmanned stations use a commercial 3-axis fluxgate magnetometer sensor. The magnetic field data at Mirny and Vostok are downloaded to a portable computer monthly. The unmanned magnetometer systems are downloaded annually during one of the Mirny to Vostok resupply traverses. The unmanned magnetometer systems were specifically designed to operate autonomously year around under harsh polar plateau conditions. They are powered by solar panels and modified commercial wind generators.
Electrical storage is provided by lead-acid gel cell batteries.
All electronic components and batteries are heavily insulated, heated, and buried under one meter of snow. Each system is powered by a single Solarex 30 Watt solar panel and and a 72 Watt Rutland Furlmatic wind generator. The standard wind generator bearing lubricant was replaced with a wide temperature range lubricant formulated for spacecraft mechanisms to avoid winter freeze up. The entire system, including battery heaters, uses an average of 5 Watts, so the batteries alone can power the system for 12 days. As the data logger temperature rises above -40 deg C, the miscrocomputer restarts automatically and will continue to collect data.