Scientists from CBK PAN will help to examine solar flares.
CubIXSS (CubeSat Imaging X-ray Solar Spectrometer) is a small 6U-class nanosatellite. Scientists hope it will enable them to understand thermal and non-thermal processes taking place during the Sun explosions. Observation of such accidents will be conducted by various devices such as X-rays spectrophotometers and innovative imaging spectrographs. The devices will be placed on the board of the CubIXSS.
Engineers from CBK PAN will be responsible for the construction of a camera to imaging spectrograph MOXSI (Multi-Order X-ray Spectral Imager). Taking into consideration their vast experience in similar projects, they will also be engaged in the construction of SXS spectrophotometers as well as calibration and analyses of data recorded by the satellite.
The project is very prestigious. CBK PAN will be a part of a global team of such institutions as Southwest Research Institute, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, University of Colorado, Lockheed Martin Solar, Astrophysics Laboratory and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Solar Orbiter
It is not the only solar research project, developed by CBK. The Institute also participates in the ESA mission “Solar Orbiter” which started on February 10, when the probe with the same name was launched into outer space. The probe will search the physics of the Sun and heliosphere in order to answer the question of how the Sun generates and maintains the heliosphere (the plasma envelope in which the Solar System is immersed). The probe should approach the Sun at a distance of 42 mln km.
There are ten scientific devices on the board of the probe, including the X-ray telescope STIX. It is to deliver 10 high-resolution pieces of imagery per second. It will allow scientists to determine when and from which the Sun’s area electrons are transferred onto the interplanetary space. The construction of the device was supported by scientists from Switzerland, Czechia, Germany and France.
Picture: CBK PAN.
