Proba 2

---

General

Designation	36037 / 09059B
Launch date	02 Nov 2009
Country of origin	Europe
Mission	Scientific: sun observation
Perigee/Apogee	717/735 km
Inclination	98.3°
Period	99.2 min
Launch vehicle	Rokot #17

It will serves as a testbed for 17 new technologies and experiments to observe the Sun and do research into space weather.

Demonstrator for ESA's Technology Directorate.

sat-index articles

Technical data

---

---

Specifications

Prime contractor	Verhaert Space, part of the QinetiQ group
Platform	MiniSIL
Mass at launch	130 kg
Mass in orbit
Dimension	0.6 x 0.6 x 0.8 m
Solar array
Stabilization
DC power
Design lifetime

The Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB) has the scientific responsibility for Proba-2's two solar monitoring instruments, the Sun-imaging SWAP (Sun Watcher using APS detectors and imaging processing) instrument (which makes detailed images of the solar atmosphere once a minute,) and the the LYRA (Lyman alpha radiometer) instrument.
Proba-2 combines solar observation with plasma content monitoring of the space around it, revealing how the Sun's activity can influence Earth's ionosphere. The satellite carries two instruments, the Dual Segmented Langmuir Probe (DSLP) and the Thermal Plasma Measurement Unit (TPMU). Both were developed by a consortium of Czech institutions led by the Czech Republic's Academy of Sciences with considerable support from the Czech Space Research Centre.

Carries an experimental propulsion system which is refuelled with gas generated from a solid material. It produces 250 times its own volume in pure nitrogen gas.

---