A system for determining a contact force, the system comprising: a catheter adapted to determine a contact force, the catheter comprising: a proximal segment; a distal segment including: a plurality of tip electrodes including at least three radial electrodes (132a, 132b, 132c) disposed about a circumference of the distal segment, the radial electrodes (132a, 132b, 132c) configured to sense voltages produced by a current driven through any of the tip electrodes and to output respective electrical signals indicative of an individual vector (152, 154, 156); and an elastic segment extending from the proximal segment to the distal segment, the elastic segment including a force sensing device configured to output an electrical signal indicative of a magnitude of an axial component of the contact force, control circuitry configured to: receive electrical signals from each of the plurality of tip electrodes; determine the individual vectors (152, 254, 156) for each of the plurality of tip electrodes based on their respective electrical signals; determine the contact vector of the contact force by summing the individual vectors (152, 154, 156) for each of the plurality of tip electrodes; receive electrical signals from the force sensing device; determine the magnitude of the axial component of the contact force based on the electrical signals received from the force sensing device; and determine the contact force by scaling the magnitude of the axial component of the contact force by the contact vector. a catheter adapted to determine a contact force, the catheter comprising: a proximal segment; a distal segment including: a plurality of tip electrodes including at least three radial electrodes (132a, 132b, 132c) disposed about a circumference of the distal segment, the radial electrodes (132a, 132b, 132c) configured to sense voltages produced by a current driven through any of the tip electrodes and to output respective electrical signals indicative of an individual vector (152, 154, 156); and an elastic segment extending from the proximal segment to the distal segment, the elastic segment including a force sensing device configured to output an electrical signal indicative of a magnitude of an axial component of the contact force, a proximal segment; a distal segment including: a plurality of tip electrodes including at least three radial electrodes (132a, 132b, 132c) disposed about a circumference of the distal segment, the radial electrodes (132a, 132b, 132c) configured to sense voltages produced by a current driven through any of the tip electrodes and to output respective electrical signals indicative of an individual vector (152, 154, 156); and an elastic segment extending from the proximal segment to the distal segment, the elastic segment including a force sensing device configured to output an electrical signal indicative of a magnitude of an axial component of the contact force, control circuitry configured to: receive electrical signals from each of the plurality of tip electrodes; determine the individual vectors (152, 254, 156) for each of the plurality of tip electrodes based on their respective electrical signals; determine the contact vector of the contact force by summing the individual vectors (152, 154, 156) for each of the plurality of tip electrodes; receive electrical signals from the force sensing device; determine the magnitude of the axial component of the contact force based on the electrical signals received from the force sensing device; and determine the contact force by scaling the magnitude of the axial component of the contact force by the contact vector. receive electrical signals from each of the plurality of tip electrodes; determine the individual vectors (152, 254, 156) for each of the plurality of tip electrodes based on their respective electrical signals; determine the contact vector of the contact force by summing the individual vectors (152, 154, 156) for each of the plurality of tip electrodes; receive electrical signals from the force sensing device; determine the magnitude of the axial component of the contact force based on the electrical signals received from the force sensing device; and