CORONAS (Complex ORbital Observations Near-Earth of Activity of the Sun) Russian program for study of the Sun and solar-terrestrial connections physics by series of spacecrafts, which provides launching of three solar-oriented satellites onto the near-Earth orbit.
"CORONAS-PHOTON" is the third satellite in this series. Two previous
missions of the project are "CORONAS-I" (launched on March 2, 1994)
and "CORONAS-F" (launched on July 31, 2001).
Launching date of CORONAS-PHOTON spacecraft is 2007.
"CORONAS-PHOTON" is a part of International Living With a Star Program (ILWS) .
MEPhI Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (State University) is the main organization responsible for the scientific payload complex of the CORONAS-PHOTON mission.
NIIEM Research Institute for Electromechanics (Moscow region, Istra) is the main organization responsible for the spacecraft CORONAS-PHOTON.
Principal Investigator of the project Director of Astrophysics Institute
at MEPhI
Dr. Yuri D. Kotov
The investigation of energy accumulation and its transformation into energy of accelerated particles processes during solar flares; the study of the acceleration mechanisms, propagation and interaction of fast particles in the solar atmosphere; the study of the solar activity correlation with physical-chemical processes in the Earth upper atmosphere.
Physics of the Sun
Solar-terrestrial connections physics
Astrophysics
Spacecraft weight, kg
... 1900
Scientific payload weight, kg
.......
.
.......
. 540
Orbit:
type
.
...
. circular
height, km
.
500
inclination, deg
.
.
.. 82.5
Accuracy of the spacecraft longitudinal axis orientation to the Sun, arc min
.....
.better than 5
Determination accuracy of the spacecraft longitudinal axis orientation on the
Sun, arc min ..
. 3
Angular velocity stabilization of the spacecraft, deg/s
.... less
than 0.005
Accuracy of the satellite position measurement:
along the orbit, m
.. ±1000
by height and in transverse directions, m
±500
Volume of scientific information stored per day, Gbit
.
. 8.2
Information transmitted during one communication session, Mbit
.
..
...
.
.
2048
Nominal mission lifetime, years
.
.
.. at least 3