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 disposed about a circumference of the distal segment , the radial electrodes 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 ; 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 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 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 disposed about a circumference of the distal segment , the radial electrodes 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 ; 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 disposed about a circumference of the distal segment , the radial electrodes 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 ; 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 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 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 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 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 <EOS>