Description

KORONAS-Foton or CORONAS-Photon, a Russian satellite for solar physics, solar-terrestrial connection physics and astrophysics, was launched at 13:30 UT on 30 January 2009 from Plesetsk. Koronas-Foton has a mass of 1920 kg, an expected lifetime of three years and has two solar panels providing approximately 2 kW power. Koronas-Foton is part of the International Living with a Star (ILWS) program.

The primary purpose of the mission is the study of solar electromagnetic radiation, especially from solar flares, in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) up to high-energy gamma-ray radiation. It will also be capable of making parallel observations of Earth's upper atmosphere in EUV and soft X-rays as well as monitoring other astrophysical X-ray and gamma-ray sources. A high-energy particle detector on-board will also be capable of monitoring the near-Earth plasma environment. The satellite will operate from a circular orbit of 500 km altitude with an inclination of 82.5°.

The satellite carries several instruments: NATALYA-2M, a high-energy spectrometer; RT-2, a low-energy gamma-ray telescope; PENGUIN-M, a hard X-ray polarimeter-spectrometer; KONUS-RF, an X-ray and gamma-ray spectrometer; BRM, a fast X-ray monitor; PHOKA, a multi-channel ultraviolet monitor; TESIS, a solar telescope/imaging spectrometer; ELECTRON-M-PESCA, a charged particle analyzer; and STEP-F, a high-energy particle detector. It is also equipped with a magnetometer, a data acquisition and registration system and a control and communications block.

The Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI) is the prime institution responsible for the mission payload. The Scientific-Research Electromechanic Institute (NIIEM) is responsible for the spacecraft design and manufacture. Teams from Russia, India, Ukraine, Spain and Poland contributed to the development of the science payloads.