Koronas-Foton (russian: Коронас-Фотон), also known as CORONAS-Photon (Complex Orbital Observations Near-Earth of Activity of the Sun-Photon),
was a Russian
Solar research satellite. It is the third satellite in the Russian
Coronas programme, and part of the international
Living With a Star
Living With a Star (LWS) is a NASA scientific program to study those aspects of the connected Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is a crosscutting initiative with goals and objectives relevant to NASA's Exploration Initiat ...
programme.
It was launched on 30 January 2009, from
Site 32/2 at the
Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Plesetsk Cosmodrome ( rus, Космодром «Плесецк», r=Kosmodrom "Plesetsk", p=kəsmɐˈdrom plʲɪˈsʲet͡sk) is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 ...
, aboard the final flight of the
Tsyklon-3
The Tsyklon-3, also known as Tsiklon-3 and Cyclone-3 (known as SL-14 by the United States DoD), GRAU index 11K68, was a Soviet, and subsequently Ukrainian orbital carrier rocket. Tsyklon 3 rocket body debris accounts for more than 500 pieces o ...
rocket. On 1 December 2009 all scientific instruments on the satellite were turned off due to the problems with power supply that were caused by a design flaw. On 18 April 2010 the creators of the satellite announced it was lost "with a good deal of certainty".
Overview
The goal is to investigate the processes of free energy accumulation in the sun's atmosphere, accelerated particle phenomena and solar flares, and the correlation between solar activity and magnetic storms on Earth.
[Russia makes first space launch of 2009](_blank)
RIA Novosti 2009-01-30 Launch occurred successfully on 30 January 2009, and the first batch of science data was downloaded from the satellite on 19 February 2009.
The satellite operates in a 500 x 500 km x 82.5°
polar
Polar may refer to:
Geography
Polar may refer to:
* Geographical pole, either of two fixed points on the surface of a rotating body or planet, at 90 degrees from the equator, based on the axis around which a body rotates
*Polar climate, the cli ...
low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never m ...
and was expected to have an operational lifetime of three years. It developed power system problems during the first eclipse season, about six months after launch, and contact with the satellite was lost on 1 December 2009.
The satellite returned to life on December 29, after its solar panels received enough light to power its control systems, but attempts to revive the satellite failed, and the satellite is considered lost.
On 5 July 2009, Koronas-Foton's TESIS telescope registered the most powerful solar outburst of the year so far, lasting 11 minutes, from 06:07 to 06:18 GMT. Solar X-ray pick intensity reached С2.7 in a
5-level scale used to classify solar flares. The last equally powerful outburst occurred on 25 March 2008.
[ ]
Development
Koronas-Foton is a successor to the
Koronas-F and
Koronas-I satellites, launched in 1994 and 2001 respectively. It is being operated by the
Russian Federal Space Agency
The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...
, the
Moscow Engineering Physics Institute and the
.
It was built using a
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
constructed for
Meteor-M
The Meteor spacecraft are weather observation satellites launched by the Soviet Union and Russia. The Meteor satellite series was initially developed during the 1960s. weather satellite
A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites can be polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asynchronously), or ...
s,.
Koronas-Foton also carries three Indian ''
Roentgen Telescope'' or ''RT'' instruments: RT-2/S, RT-2/G, and RT-2/CZT. These will be used to conduct
photometric and
spectrometric research into the Sun, and for low-energy
gamma-ray
A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically sh ...
imagery. These instruments will be operated by the
Indian Space Research Organisation
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman o ...
(ISRO), and were constructed by a collaboration of the
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) is a major space research centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), focusing on rocket and space vehicles for India's satellite programme. It is located in Thiruvananthapuram, in the India ...
,
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a public deemed research university located in Mumbai, India that is dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the ...
and
Indian Centre for Space Physics
The Indian Centre for Space Physics (ICSP) is an Indian non-profit research organisation dedicated to carrying out advanced research in astronomy, astrophysics and space science. It is a sister institute of the University of Calcutta and the Uni ...
.
Instruments
The satellite's scientific payload includes an array of 12 instruments.
[Koronas-Foton](_blank)
Russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved on 2009-02-01 Eight instruments were designed for registering electromagnetic radiation from the Sun in a wide range of spectrum from near electromagnetic waves to gamma-radiation, as well as solar neutrons. Two instruments were designed to detect charged particles such as protons and electrons.
Scientific instruments:
#Natalya-2M spectrometer MIFI, Moscow, Russia
#RT-2 gamma-telescope TIFR/ICSP/VSSC,
www.isro.org Retrieved on 2009-02-03. India.
#Pingvin-M (Penguin) polarimeter MIFI, Moscow, Russia
#Konus-RF x-ray and gamma spectrometer
Ioffe Institute
The Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (for short, Ioffe Institute, russian: Физико-технический институт им. А. Ф. Иоффе) is one of Russia's largest research centers specialized ...
, Russia
#BRM x-ray detector MIFI, Russia
#FOKA UV-detector MIFI, Russia
#TESIS telescope/spectrometer FIAN, Russia, with SphinX soft X-ray spectrophotometer, SRC PAS, Poland
#Electron-M-Peska charged particles analyser NIIYaF MGU, Russia
#STEP-F Electron and proton detector Kharkov National University, Ukraine
#SM-8M
magnetometer
A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, ...
NPP Geologorazvedka/MIFI, Russia
Service systems:
#SSRNI science data collection and registration system IKI, Russia
#Radio transmission system and antennas RNII KP, Russia
See also
*
2009 in spaceflight
Several significant events in spaceflight occurred in 2009, including Iran conducting its first indigenous orbital launch, the first Swiss satellite being launched and New Zealand launching its first sounding rocket. The H-IIB and Naro-1 rocke ...
*
Koronas-I
*
Koronas-F
References
{{Use British English, date=January 2014
Missions to the Sun
Spacecraft launched in 2009
Satellites of Russia
2009 in Russia