PROBA-2


PROBA-2 is the second satellite in the European Space Agency's series of PROBA low-cost satellites that are being used to validate new spacecraft technologies while also carrying scientific instruments. PROBA-2 is a small satellite developed under an ESA General Support Technology Program contract by a Belgian consortium led by Verhaert of Kruibeke, Belgium. The nominal mission duration was two years. As of 2019, the mission continues.

Mission summary

It was launched on, with the Rockot launch system together with ESA's SMOS mission. The platform was launched in a sun-synchronous low Earth orbit.
PROBA-2 contains five scientific instruments. Two of them are designated to observe the Sun: "The Sun Watcher using APS and Image Processing" and the "Large Yield Radiometer", a radiometer made of diamond photodiodes. The Principal investigator teams of both instruments are hosted at the Royal Observatory of Belgium. This institute will also host the from which the SWAP and LYRA instruments will be operated and their data distributed. There are three other instruments to measure basic space plasma properties: the Dual segmented Langmuir probe , the Thermal Plasma Measurement Unit, and the Science Grade Vector Magnetometer developed by the Technical University of Denmark.