Its triple payload included a 150-kilo (330-pound) French satellite called
Picard that will scrutinise the Sun for changes that could affect Earth's
climate system.
More than 80 percent of current climate change is attributable to greenhouse
gases that trap solar heat, leaving variations in solar output as the other big
contributor.
Picard, named after a 17th-century French astronomer who investigated solar
activity, will orbit at an altitude of 725 kilometres (453 miles), the CNES
said.
It carries a telescope that will take images of the Sun in five wavelengths, and
two other instruments to measure the Sun's energy output.
The other passengers aboard the Dnepr were the satellites Mango and Tango, under
a Swedish Space Corporation project called Prisma.
They will test new sensors and navigation technologies designed to enable
satellites to rendezvous or fly in formation in space.
The SS-18 was code-named "Satan" by NATO in the Cold War's heyday. In the 1990s,
a number of the missiles were converted so that they could carry small civilian
payloads into low Earth orbit.
Pickard
smsc.cnes.fr...
adsabs.harvard.edu...
en.wikipedia.org...(satellite)
Prisma project.
www.nasa.gov...
www.spaceflightnow.com...
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Now this is what I call appropriate use of missile technologies, rather than being armed with nuclear warheads.
This is good bit of Solar monitoring tech and nice they are up there to keep a better ‘eye’ on the expulsions, things are a changin and we all
know the potentials as to reason why these are now up there.
The geosynchronous formation lock tech’ is interesting, “Shields up!” for the future, ay.
Whatcha think people?
uk.news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)