| Mission type | Technology Space weather |
|---|---|
| Operator | European Space Agency[1] |
| COSPAR ID | 2009-059B |
| SATCATno. | 36037 |
| Mission duration | 2 years (planned) 16 years and 22 days (in progress) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Bus | PROBA |
| Manufacturer | Verhaert Design & Development (now QinetiQ Space) |
| Launch mass | 120 kilograms (260 lb) |
| Dimensions | 0.60m x 0.70m x 0.85m |
| Power | 120 watts |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 2 November 2009, 01:50:00 (2009-11-02UTC01:50Z) UTC |
| Rocket | Rokot/Briz-KM |
| Launch site | Plesetsk133/3 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Sun-synchronous |
| Perigee altitude | 713 kilometres (443 mi)[2] |
| Apogee altitude | 733 kilometres (455 mi)[2] |
| Inclination | 98.28 degrees[2] |
| Period | 99.12 minutes[2] |
| Epoch | 24 January 2015, 13:01:08 UTC[2] |
 ESA solar system insignia for thePROBA-2 mission | |
PROBA-2 is the second satellite in theEuropean Space Agency's series ofPROBA low-costsatellites that are being used to validate new spacecraft technologies while also carrying scientific instruments.[3] PROBA-2 is a small satellite (130 kg) developed under an ESA General Support Technology Program (GSTP) contract by a Belgian consortium led by Verhaert (nowQinetiQ Space) of Kruibeke, Belgium. The nominal mission duration was two years.[1] As of 2022, the mission continues.[4]
It was launched on 2 November 2009, with theRockot launch system together withESA'sSMOS mission.[5] The platform was launched in aSun-synchronous orbitlow Earth orbit (altitude of 725 km).[1]
PROBA-2 contains five scientific instruments. Two of them are designated to observe theSun: "The Sun Watcher using APS and Image Processing" (SWAP, an EUV imager) and the "Large Yield Radiometer" (LYRA), a radiometer made of diamond photodiodes. The Principal investigator teams of both instruments are hosted at theRoyal Observatory of Belgium. This institute will also host thePROBA-2 Science Center from which theSWAP andLYRA instruments will be operated and their data distributed. There are three other instruments to measure basic space plasma properties: theDual segmented Langmuir probe (DSLP)[1] (developed by theAstronomical Institute and Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic), the Thermal Plasma Measurement Unit (TPMU), and the Science Grade Vector Magnetometer (SGVM) developed by theTechnical University of Denmark.[1]
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