Prognos (satellite)

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Model of Prognos 2 in the Musée de l'air et de l'espace

Prognos ( Russian Прогноз ) is the name of a Soviet scientific satellite program. It consisted of ten satellites that were launched between 1972 and 1985 with Molnija-M launchers from the launch complex 31/6 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome .

The satellites were built by Lavochkin and had the manufacturer designation SO-M . They are cylindrical in shape, about 2 m in diameter and 0.925 m high, with the scientific instruments attached to the surface of the cylinder. The energy is supplied by four triangular solar cell surfaces with a span of 6 m, which are folded upwards during take-off. The position is controlled by sun sensors and nitrogen gas nozzles.

The satellites were primarily used to study the sun . The last satellites were also used to study the Earth's magnetosphere and to test the Big Bang theory . The tenth and final satellite was launched as part of the Interkosmos program. It was succeeded by two satellites called Prognos-M and Interbol .

Overview of the individual satellites

designation Start date (UTC) Dimensions Far from the earth Proximity to earth Orbit inclination mission Remarks
Prognos 1 April 14, 1972, 00:54 845 kg 199667 km 1005 km 65 ° Investigation of solar activity
Prognos 2 June 29, 1972, 3:47 am 845 kg 201804 km 512 km 65.3 ° Investigation of solar activity One of the payloads on board was the Franco-Russian SIGNE 1 (Solar International Gamma-Ray and Neutron Experiments) experiment for investigating solar and cosmic gamma radiation. SIGNE 1 consisted of a stilbene scintillator with a diameter of 38.1 mm and a height of 38.1 mm, which was shielded by a plastic anti-coincidence scintillator. It also had measuring ranges of 0.4–0.7 MeV, 0.7–1.0 MeV, 1–1.6 MeV, 1.6–2.4 MeV, 2.4–2.9 MeV, 2, 9-3.9 MeV, 3.9-8.1 MeV, and 8.1-11.8 MeV. The impulses were summed up over 41 or 160 seconds. The effective detector area was 17.1 cm 2 .
Prognos 3 February 15, 1973, 1:11 am 845 kg 199442 km 896 km 65 ° Investigation of solar activity
Prognos 4 December 22, 1975, 2:08 am 905 kg 199,000 km 634 km 65 ° Investigation of solar radiation and the earth's magnetosphere
Prognos 5 25 November 1976, 3:59 am 930 kg 198560 km 777 km 65.2 ° Investigation of solar radiation and the earth's magnetosphere
Prognos 6 22 September 1977, 00:51 910 kg 196379 km 1850 km 74.4 ° Investigation of solar radiation and the earth's magnetosphere Prognos 6 carried the SIGNE II MP experiment with three sensors including a detector made of a 4.5 × 3.7 cm NaI (Tl) crystal for gamma radiation bursts.
Prognos 7 October 30, 1978, 5:23 am 950 kg 202,627 km 472 km 64.9 ° Investigation of solar radiation and the earth's magnetosphere,
UV , X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy 		had experiments from the ČSSR , France , Hungary and Sweden on board. Below it was a SIGNE II experiment with a detector made of a 4.5 × 3.7 cm NaI (Tl) crystal for gamma radiation bursts, with similar detectors installed on Venera 11 and Venera 12 to determine direction.
Prognos 8 December 25, 1980, 4:02 am 910 kg 197,364 km 978 km 65.8 ° Investigation of solar radiation and the earth's magnetosphere had experiments from the ČSSR, Poland and Sweden on board
Prognos 9 1 July 1983, 12:17 1060 kg 720,000 km 380 km 1.3 ° Investigation of solar radiation, earth's magnetosphere, cosmic radiation,
solar plasma and gamma radiation 		had experiments from the ČSSR and France on board
Prognos 10 April 26, 1985, 5:48 am 1000 kg 194734 km 5975 km 76.8 ° Investigation of the solar wind and the earth's magnetosphere also Interkosmos 23 , had experiments from the ČSSR on board

Web links

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  1. ↑ a b Baikonur LC31 in the Encyclopedia Astronautica , accessed on October 6, 2009 (English). 1997-2008
  2. ↑ a b Prognoz Spacecraft. www.iki.rssi.ru, October 31, 1997, accessed October 6, 2009 .
  3. ↑ Prognoz in the Encyclopedia Astronautica, accessed on October 6, 2009 (English). 1997-2008
  4. ↑ Prognoz-2 (NASA)
  5. ↑ Prognoz-6 (NASA)
  6. ↑ Prognoz-7 (NASA)