PFS (Venus Express mission)
VENUS-EXPRESS was launched on November 26, 2005. It was the second planet-bound probe developed for ESA. The aim of the mission is to study the atmosphere, plasma environment and surface of Venus. Poland was involved in the PFS (Planetary
SPHINX (Coronas-Photon mission)
CORONAS-PHOTON SphinX was developed by the Solar Physics Division of the CBK PAN as a part of international collaboration involving scientists from Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, the UK, and the USA. SphinX was launched aboard the Russian
Suborbital flight during the ‘El Coqui’ campaign
The payload-electric field detector was launched on June 6, 1992 on a Terrier-boosted Black Brant VC rocket (NASA 36.064 CE, El Coqui AA-3B) from the Puerto Rico’s North Coast. Peak altitude: 370km. Trajectory plane: within 10° of the magnetic
THP (Cassini-Huygens mission)
Cassini is a joint mission of NASA and ESA established to study the Saturn System and its largest moon, Titan. The mission was launched on October 5, 1997 and arrived at Saturn on July 1, 2004. On January 14,
MUPUS (Rosetta-Philae mission)
ROSETTA was an international mission that was a part of the ESA’s Science Programme. The satellite was launched on March 2, 2004 and its destination was the short period comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The mission’s objectives were: to analyse the drilled
Chomik penetrator (Fobos-Grunt mission)
PHOBOS-GRUNT was a Russian space mission to Phobos (one of the moons of Mars). Its aim was to investigate the Phobos’ surface and to study Mars; its atmosphere’s dynamics, dust storms and seasonal climate changes. One of the three
HIFI (Herschel mission)
The Herschel Space Observatory, the fourth cornerstone mission in the European Space Agency (ESA) science programme, was launched on 14th May 2009 and succesfully operated almost four years. Mission ended when the liquid helium supply was exhausted on 29
Radio antennas and receivers (Longjiang / Chang’E-4 mission)
As part of the China Chang’e 4 mission, two microsatellites (45 kg each) named Longjiang-1 and Longjiang-2 have been deployed into lunar orbit in May 2018 to observe the sky at very low frequencies (1 MHz-30 MHz), corresponding to
IBIS (INTEGRAL spacecraft)
INTEGRAL (International Gamma Ray Observatory) is a large ESA mission designed to study the gamma radiation in space. Satellite was launched into Earth orbit on October 2002. Polish CBK PAN participated in developing instruments and software for the mission.
SIR-2 (Chardrayaan-1 mission)
CHANDRAYAAN-1 was an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) mission launched in collaboration with ESA to study the Moon. It was designed to study the lunar surface at high resolution. It was launched on October 22, 2008. CBK PAN collaborated
Power supply unit (DEMETER mission)
DEMETER (Detection of the Electro-Magnetic Emission Transmitted from Earthquake Regions) was a French project of the low altitude micro-satellite which aim was to study the electromagnetic perturbations in relation with the seismic and volcanic activity.Demeter was launched on June
RFA (RELEC mission)
The RELEC satellite was launched on July 8, 2014 into the Sun’s synchronous orbit with apogee: 830km, perigee: 640km and inclination: 98,4deg. The aim of the RELEC mission is to study the precipitation of the magnetosphere’s relativistic electrons and
RFA (Compas-2 mission)
COMPASS-2 was the first micro-satellite of the Russian Space Agency’s low orbiting system. Its aim was to investigate the geodynamics-related effects in the ionospheric plasma. The project was coordinated by IZMIRAN RAS, and Polish CBK PAN in Warsaw was
RFA-2 (Compas-1 mission)
COMPAS was a small satellite created for investigation of ionospheric plasma effects related to geodynamics. Poland provided the plasma wave radiospectrometer. The spacecraft lost contact with its ground telemetric station after launch.
POLRAD (Interball-2 mission)
The INTERBALL project was a new approach to the investigation of physical processes in the Earth’s magnetosphere and interplanetary medium with two satellites as well as two deployed sub-satellites delivered by the Czech Republic. The AURORAL PROBE (Interball-2) satellite
ASPERA-C, ELISMA, PFS (Mars-96 mission)
The MARS 96 mission was designed to send an orbiter, two small autonomous stations, and two surface penetrators to Mars in order to investigate the evolution of the planet by studying its physical and chemical processes. The Mars 96
ADS, RF15-I (Interball-1 mission)
The INTERBALL project was a new approach to the investigation of the physical processes in the Earth’s magnetosphere and interplanetary medium by means of two satellites, as well as two deployed Czech sub-satellites. The TAIL PROBE (Interball-1) satellite along
DIOGENES, SORS-D (Koronas-I mission)
The satellite CORONAS-I was launched on March 2, 1994. Its task was to study physical processes on the Sun and their influence on the Earth. Poland provided two instruments located on board the spacecraft. The first one, the X-ray
APV-F1 i APV-F2 (Fobos-1 i Fobos-2 mission)
The PHOBOS mission to Mars, consisting of 2 nearly identical spacecrafts Phobos-1 and Phobos-2, was launched on 7 and 12 July, 1988 respectively. The mission was performed as a cooperation between 14 nations including Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, France, West
AVCz-2F (Cosmos-1809 mission)
COSMOS-1809 – was launched on December 18, 1986 to an almost circular orbit to investigate the physical processes in the Earth’s ionosphere. On board the satellite were instruments, among others the ionospheric topside sounder, designed and manufactured by several
APV-N (Vega-1 i Vega-2 missions)
Probe designed for investigations of the planet Venus and Halley’s Comet. VEGA-1 and VEGA-2 were launched on December 15, 1984 and December 21, 1984, respectively. The Vega spacecrafts were fitted with scientific apparatus and equipment built in eight countries
BUD-A (Prognoz-8 mission)
Spacecraft was launched on December 25, 1980 on Earth’s elongated orbit to investigate the interaction of solar wind with the magnetosphere. Measurements performed by scientific instruments obtained by international teams were related to the effects of solar activity on
ETMS (Intercosmos-15 mission)
INTERCOSMOS-15 tested new systems and satellite components in the spaceflight conditions. Poland provided the sub-carrier frequency generator for the unified telemetric system ETMS located on IK-15’s board. Good performance of the device made it possible to use it also
PC-500K (Intercosmos-11 mission)
INTERCOSMOS-COPERNICUS 500 spacecraft aimed at observations of solar radio bursts at r.f. frequencies and plasma resonances in the upper ionosphere. Poland provided the r.f. radiospectrometer. The spacecraft was launched on April 19, 1973 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of
Telezvezda (Gamma mission)
GAMMA mission launched on July 12, 1990, was a research in the field of high-energy (gamma/x-ray) astrophysics prepared jointly by Russia, France and Poland. The satellite was based on the Soyuz manned spacecraft. Poland provided the Telezvezda star tracker
Intercosmos-25 mission
The Intercosmos-25 satellite with a Czech made sub-satellite was launched on the Earth’s orbit on December 18, 1991. Aboard the spacecraft were: an electron gun (6.2keV), a plasma gun (400eV), and a plasma diagnostics system. Another plasma diagnostics package
Intercosmos-24 mission
The Intercosmos-24 satellite was launched on the Earth’s orbit on September 28, 1989. The IK-24 satellite consisted of the 10kW power transmitter at 9.6kHz, a full plasma diagnostics system located on the spacecraft as well as Czech made sub-satellite
SAS-1 (Magion-4 mission)
Magion 4 was a subsatellite to INTERBALL 1 (Tail probe) and was launched together with it. The INTERBALL project’s main goal were the multi point simultaneous measurements at different altitudes in the Earth’s magnetosphere.On board of Magion 4 was
Vertical-1 suborbital mission
Rocket launched on November 28, 1970. Peak altitude: 487km. Carried experiments: studying geophysical matters including the X-ray spectrum and the concentration of electrons and ions, as well as electron temperature. In the experiment Soviet Union and four other countries
Vertical-2 suborbital mission
Rocket launched on August 20, 1971. Peak altitude: 463km. Essentially, a repeat of the investigation of Vertical-1, with experiments provided by the Soviet Union and four other countries. Poland provided a set of solar X-ray diagnostics instruments.
Vertical-5 suborbital mission
Rocket launched on August 30, 1977. Peak altitude: about 500km. Equipment from three countries, as well as from the Soviet Union has been provided. Poland provided a set of solar X-ray diagnostics instruments.
Vertical-8 suborbital mission
Rockets launched on September 29, 1979 (Vertical-8, peak altitude: 505km) and August 28, 1981 (Vertical-9, peak altitude: 500km). Experiments were realized by the Soviet Union and cooperating countries. Poland provided a set of solar X-ray diagnostics instruments.
Suborbital mission Vertical-9
Rockets launched on September 29, 1979 (Vertical-8, peak altitude: 505km) and August 28, 1981 (Vertical-9, peak altitude: 500km). Experiments were realized by the Soviet Union and cooperating countries. Poland provided a set of solar X-ray diagnostics instruments.
Vertical-Gruzya suborbital mission
The rocket experiment Gruzya-60 Spurt (G-60-S) was aimed at studying the processes in the vicinity of the vehicle caused by the injection of an electron beam. The payload was launched on September 18, 1981 with VERTICAL rocket going up
Vertical-10 suborbital mission
Rocket launched on December 21, 1981. Peak altitude: 1510km. Atmospheric and ionospheric studies, with devices from the Soviet Union and cooperating countries, were carried out. Poland provided the spectrum analyser to measure the ionospheric plasma irregularities.
Vertical-11 suborbital mission
Rocket launched on October 20, 1983. Peak altitude: 500km. Solar radiation studies with experiments were carried out by the Soviet Union and two other countries. Poland delivered a set of solar X-ray diagnostics equipment.
VOLNA-1 suborbital mission
MR-12 rocket launched on May 20, 1983 to investigate the processes in the lower ionosphere. Poland provided the equipment measuring the low frequency spectra of plasma waves as well as electron density. The telemetric link with the scientific instruments
PLASMA suborbital mission
As a part of Plasma experiment the MR-12 rocket was launched from the North Atlantic (18N 30W), on March 18, 1985. It was a mother-daughter type experiment. The impulse Li+ ion gun of 300A and 8.3eV was located on
Suborbital mission of the DEOS campaign
German/Indian DEOS (Dynamics of the Equatorial Ionosphere Over Shriharikota Range) Rocket Campaign was aimed at studying the structure and dynamics of the equatorial ionosphere under the equinox conditions. Three sounding rockets were launched in 1998 from SHAR (South India).
ETMS, IRS-1 (Intercosmos-19 mission)
Spacecraft launched on February 27, 1979 was designed to investigate the topside ionospheric structure and electromagnetic phenomena. The ionospheric topside sounder on board of the spacecraft was supported by a set of diagnostics plasma instruments provided by five countries.
Wizjer (ITSOK-1 complex onboard space station Mir)
PRIRODA, the last of the Mir modules launched on April 23, 1996, was designed for the Earth’s remote sensing. The experiments conducted by an international team supported a research program for the determination of atmosphere-ocean system characteristics and measurements