Astrid (satellites)
| Operator | Swedish National Space Board |
|---|---|
| COSPAR ID |
Astrid 1: 1995-002B Astrid 2: 1998-072B |
| SATCAT no. |
Astrid 1: 23464 Astrid 2: 25568 |
| Website | Astrid-2 at SSC |
| Mission duration |
Astrid 1: 246 days Astrid 2: 226 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | Swedish Space Corporation |
| Launch mass |
Astrid 1: 27 kg (60 lb) Astrid 2: <30 kg (66 lb) |
| Power |
Astrid 1: 11.88 W (payload), 38.5 W (nominal) Astrid 2: 16 W (payload), 90 W (nominal) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date |
Astrid 1: 03:54:22, January 24, 1995 Astrid 2: 11:57:07, December 10, 1998 |
| Rocket | Cosmos-3M |
| End of mission | |
| Disposal | Decommissioned |
| Deactivated |
Astrid 1: September 27, 1995 (however, on March 1 the scientific instruments became inoperable) Astrid 2: July 24, 1999 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Perigee |
Astrid 1: 968 km (601 mi) Astrid 2: 968 km (601 mi) |
| Apogee |
Astrid 1: 1,026 km (638 mi) Astrid 2: 1,014 km (630 mi) |
| Inclination |
Astrid 1: 82.9° Astrid 2: 82.9° |
| Period |
Astrid 1: 105 min Astrid 2: 105 min |
Astrid-1 and Astrid-2 were two microsatellites designed and developed by Swedish Space Corporation on behalf of the Swedish National Space Board. They were piggyback launched on a Cosmos-3M launch vehicle from Plesetsk, Russia. Astrid 1 on January 24, 1995 and Astrid 2 on December 10, 1998.
Sweden's first microsatellite was piggybacked with the launch of Tsikada, a Russian navigation satellite and FAISAT, a United States communications satellite.
It carried an Energetic Neutral Atom imager called PIPPI (Prelude in Planetary Particle Imaging), an Electron Spectrometer called EMIL (Electron Measurements - In-situ and Lightweight) and two UV imagers called MIO (Miniature Imaging Optics), one for imaging the Earth's aurora and one for observing Lyman alpha-emission from the Earth's geocorona. This payload, named after characters in Astrid Lindgren's books (the idea came from a Russian scientist ), was developed by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in Kiruna.
On March 1, a DC to DC converter for the scientific instruments failed, possibly due to a short 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 communications.
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