Satellite Experiments
IRF participates in several international satellite projects. At present, data from satellite instruments are being analysed to help us better comprehend the plasma-physical processes in the solar wind and around comets and planets. For example, the Swedish Viking and Freja satellites, with equipment from IRF on board, have greatly increased our knowledge of the auroral processes in the Earth’s magnetosphere, as have the micro-satellites Astrid 1 and 2, launched in 1995 and 1998. IRF's own nano-satellite Munin (at 6 kg (13 lb) the smallest-ever research satellite) was launched in 2000. An IRF-built instrument on board the Indian satellite Chandrayaan-1 (launched 2008) collected data from the moon and new techniques for making particle measurements in space were tested on the Swedish satellite mission Prisma (launched 2010). IRF has instruments on board the following on-going satellite projects:
- Cassini (launched 1997), a combined NASA/ESA (European Space Agency) mission to Saturn and its moon Titan,
- Cluster (2000) is an ESA project with 4 satellites in formation to study the Earth's magnetosphere,
- Mars Express (2003) is an ESA mission to study Mars
- Rosetta (2004) is one of ESA's cornerstone projects, and is on its way to a comet,
- Venus Express (2005) is an ESA satellite to study Venus.
Read more about this topic: Institute Of Space Physics (Sweden)
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