Bulgaria 1300
Encyclopedia
Interkosmos 22, more commonly known as Bulgaria 1300 , is the first artificial satellite of Bulgaria
.
as part of the Interkosmos
program. Assembly took place in Bulgaria, and the spacecraft was launched from Plesetsk
in 13:35 local time on 7 August, 1981. During that same year the Bulgarian government organized a massive celebration to commemorate the 1300th anniversary of the country's founding. Interkosmos 22 was successfully inserted in a near-Polar orbit. The outer skin of the spacecraft, including the solar panels, is coated with a conducting material in order to allow the proper measurement of electric fields and low energy plasma
. Power is provided by the two solar panels, which generate 2 kW of electricity. A rechargeable battery
pack is used as an energy supply when the spacecraft is in an eclipse period. Gathered data is stored on two tape recorders, each with a capacity of 60 megabit
s. The main transmitter radiates 10 W in the 130-MHz band. No operational limit was planned. As of 2009, the satellite is operational and still on BSA's list of active programs, and provides data about the extreterrestrial environment over Earth's polar regions.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
.
Description
The satellite was developed by the Bulgarian Space Agency around the "Meteor" bus, provided by the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
as part of the Interkosmos
Interkosmos
Interkosmos was a space program of the Soviet Union designed to include members of military forces of allied Warsaw Pact countries in manned and unmanned missions...
program. Assembly took place in Bulgaria, and the spacecraft was launched from Plesetsk
Plesetsk
Plesetsk is an urban locality Plesetsk is an urban locality Plesetsk is an urban locality (a work settlement and the administrative center of Plesetsky District, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, situated about northeast of Moscow and south of Arkhangelsk. Municipally, it is the administrative...
in 13:35 local time on 7 August, 1981. During that same year the Bulgarian government organized a massive celebration to commemorate the 1300th anniversary of the country's founding. Interkosmos 22 was successfully inserted in a near-Polar orbit. The outer skin of the spacecraft, including the solar panels, is coated with a conducting material in order to allow the proper measurement of electric fields and low energy plasma
Plasma (physics)
In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms , thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions...
. Power is provided by the two solar panels, which generate 2 kW of electricity. A rechargeable battery
Battery (electricity)
An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...
pack is used as an energy supply when the spacecraft is in an eclipse period. Gathered data is stored on two tape recorders, each with a capacity of 60 megabit
Megabit
The megabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix mega is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 106 , and therefore...
s. The main transmitter radiates 10 W in the 130-MHz band. No operational limit was planned. As of 2009, the satellite is operational and still on BSA's list of active programs, and provides data about the extreterrestrial environment over Earth's polar regions.
Equipment
The satellite contains a large set of scientific devices, designed and built in Bulgaria:- Ion Drift Meter combined with a Retarding Potential Analyzer;
- Spherical Electrostatic Ion Trap;
- Cylindrical Langmuir probeLangmuir probeA Langmuir probe is a device named after Nobel Prize winning physicist Irving Langmuir, used to determine the electron temperature, electron density, and electric potential of a plasma. It works by inserting one or more electrodes into a plasma, with a constant or time-varying electric potential...
; - Double spherical electron temperature probes;
- Low-Energy Electron-Proton Electrostatic Analyzer Array in 3 orthogonal directions
- Ion Energy-Mass Composition Analyzers
- Wavelength Scanning UV Photometer
- Proton Solid-State Telescope
- Visible Airglow Photometers
- Triaxial Spherical Vector Electric Field Probes
- Triaxial Fluxgate Magnetometer
Sources
- Interkosmos 22 (Bulgaria 1300), skyrocket.de