Astrid-1 and Astrid-2 were two
microsatellites
A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organism's genome. T ...
designed and developed by
Swedish Space Corporation
The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), also registered as Svenska rymdaktiebolaget, is a Swedish space services company. SSC operations consist of launches of sounding rockets and stratospheric balloons, tests of future generation rocket engines a ...
on behalf of the
Swedish National Space Board
The Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA, ) is a Government agency in Sweden operating under the Swedish Ministry of Education and Science. SNSA operates as a key component of the Swedish space programme, which is mostly carried out through int ...
. They were piggyback launched on a
Cosmos-3M launch vehicle from
Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Plesetsk Cosmodrome () is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, near the town of Plesetsk, from which it takes its name. Until 2025 and the commissioning of the Andøya Space, Andøya base in Norway, it was the only operati ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. Astrid 1 on January 24, 1995, and Astrid 2 on December 10, 1998.
Astrid-1
Sweden's first microsatellite was piggybacked with the launch of
Tsikada
Tsikada ( meaning ''cicada'') was a Soviet satellite navigation system including ten Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. It transmitted the same two carrier frequencies as the U.S. Transit (satellite), TRANSIT satellite system. The first satellite w ...
, a Russian
navigation satellite
A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geopositioning. A satellite navigation system with global coverage is termed global navigation satellite system (GNSS). , four global systems are op ...
and
FAISAT, a
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
communications satellite
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...
.
It carried an
Energetic Neutral Atom
Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) imaging is a technology used to create global images of otherwise invisible phenomena in the magnetospheres of planets and throughout the heliosphere.
Charged particles— protons, electrons, and various nuclei— ...
imager called PIPPI (Prelude in Planetary Particle Imaging), an
Electron
The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary charge, elementary electric charge. It is a fundamental particle that comprises the ordinary matter that makes up the universe, along with up qua ...
Spectrometer
A spectrometer () is a scientific instrument used to separate and measure Spectrum, spectral components of a physical phenomenon. Spectrometer is a broad term often used to describe instruments that measure a continuous variable of a phenomeno ...
called EMIL (Electron Measurements - In-situ and Lightweight) and two
UV imager An image sensor or imager is a sensor that detects and conveys information used to form an image. It does so by converting the variable attenuation of light waves (as they pass through or reflect off objects) into signals, small bursts of curren ...
s called MIO (Miniature Imaging Optics), one for imaging the Earth's
aurora
An aurora ( aurorae or auroras),
also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...
and one for observing
Lyman alpha-emission from the Earth's
geocorona
The geocorona is the luminous part of the outermost region of the Earth's atmosphere, the exosphere. It is seen primarily via far-ultraviolet light ( Lyman-alpha) from the Sun that is scattered from neutral hydrogen. It extends to at minimum 15 ...
. This payload, named after characters in
Astrid Lindgren
Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren (; ; 14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002) was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for several children's book series, featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil i Lönneberga, Emil of Lönneberga, ...
's books (the idea came from a
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
n scientist ), was developed by the
Swedish Institute of Space Physics in
Kiruna
(; ; ; ) is the northernmost Stad (Sweden), city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality (population: 23,167 in 2016) in Norrbotten County. The c ...
.
On March 1, a
DC to DC converter
A DC-to-DC converter is an electronic circuit or electromechanical device that converts a source of direct current (DC) from one voltage level to another. It is a type of electric power converter. Power levels range from very low (small batteries) ...
for the scientific instruments failed, possibly due to a
short circuit
A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) is an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the circuit ...
, ending its scientific mission. However, the satellite was operated until September 27, serving as a testbed for various
software algorithms and
store-and-forward
Store and forward is a telecommunications technique in which information is sent to an intermediate station where it is kept and sent at a later time to the final destination or to another intermediate station. The intermediate station, or node ...
communications.
The entire satellite was built in a year and the cost, including launch, was 1.4 million
U.S. dollars
The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...
.
Astrid-2
Astrid-2 was Sweden's second microsatellite and it was piggybacked with
Nadezhda 5, a Russian
navigation satellite
A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geopositioning. A satellite navigation system with global coverage is termed global navigation satellite system (GNSS). , four global systems are op ...
on December 10, 1998, on a Kosmos-3M rocket from Plesetsk in Russia.
Its payload, built by the
Swedish Institute of Space Physics in
Kiruna
(; ; ; ) is the northernmost Stad (Sweden), city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality (population: 23,167 in 2016) in Norrbotten County. The c ...
and
Uppsala
Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019.
Loc ...
and the
Royal Institute of Technology
KTH Royal Institute of Technology (), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technology and is Sweden's largest technical university. Since 2018, KTH consist ...
(Alfven Laboratory) in
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
, was EMMA (Electrical and Magnetic field Monitoring of the Aurora), LINDA (Langmuir INterferometer and Density experiment for Astrid-2), MEDUSA (Miniaturized Electrostatic DUal-tophat Spherical Analyzer) and PIA (Photometers for Imaging the Aurora). It was used to explore the
electric
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
and
magnetic field
A magnetic field (sometimes called B-field) is a physical field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular ...
s in the upper
ionosphere
The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays ...
and to measure
neutral
Neutral or neutrality may refer to:
Mathematics and natural science Biology
* Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity
Chemistry and physics
* Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...
and charged particles and
electron
The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary charge, elementary electric charge. It is a fundamental particle that comprises the ordinary matter that makes up the universe, along with up qua ...
density.
On July 24, 1999, the contact with the satellite was lost. During its months in space, Astrid-2 delivered a large amount of information to researchers.
See also
*
Odin (satellite)
*
Viking (satellite)
Viking was Sweden's first satellite. It was launched on an Ariane 1 rocket as a piggyback payload together with the France, French satellite SPOT (satellites), SPOT 1, on February 22, 1986. Operations ended on May 12, 1987. Viking was used to e ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Astrid-1 at Swedish Space CorporationAstrid-2 at Swedish Space Corporationfrom NASA's
Mission and Spacecraft Library
Astrid-2 Quicklookfrom NASA's
Mission and Spacecraft Library
Astrid-1 at Astronautix
Satellites orbiting Earth
Space programme of Sweden
Science and technology in Sweden
Microsatellites
Geospace monitoring satellites