ARKHANGELSK, October 16. /TASS/. The ArcticSat-1 spacecraft of the Northern Arctic Federal University (NArFU) collected data on space radiation at different heights above the Arctic. Researchers obtained data from 500 to 200 km, and there is practically no information about radiation at low levels in the circumpolar regions, leader of the university's Space Monitoring Center Roman Alyoshko told TASS.
"The main data that we were collecting is data on space radiation," he said. "This is an urgent task exactly for the polar regions. During the spacecraft's mission, we collected data on space radiation, starting from altitudes of about 500 km when it was launched into orbit, and then it was gradually decreasing over about a year and a half, to 200 km when it already began burning up. And it is even more relevant data when it was in low orbits of about 200 kilometers. There are practically no spacecraft in such orbits, and therefore data on space radiation at these heights is very valuable."
ArcticSat-1 belongs to a group of satellites that fly in low orbits, at an altitude of 400-600 km. Strictly speaking, there is no space vacuum there, and therefore the satellite constantly touches the atmosphere molecules and gradually loses speed. It does not have an engine to compensate for this, so the satellite is slowly descending. The lower is the satellite, the denser is the air and the faster is the deceleration. The Sun also affects the descent rate: with high solar activity, the atmosphere heats up and "swells", increasing the braking effect at the orbit altitude.
ArcticSat-1's orbit is polar, with an inclination of about 97 degrees. In such an orbit, the spacecraft passes over high latitudes, where the geomagnetic field does not protect well from space particles. This coincides with the project's main topic: the impact of space weather on small spacecraft in the polar regions.
"We have focused on how this affects satellites. We were receiving data on space radiation and at the same time we were receiving information about the satellite. Our goal is to make recommendations for operators of such satellites on what to do in a certain situation. In case of a very strong surge of space radiation, it may be reasonable to put the satellite into the sleep mode, that is, not to interact with it - not to cause breakdowns," the scientist said, adding it was important to find how to "prolong the life" of such satellites.
An octopus in space
On board the satellite was an art object, an octopus, - Octo-Pax by artist Nastya Miro. This is a figurine of about ten by ten centimeters, made of a domestic metal powder composition. It was in a separate cube chamber inside the satellite. Inside the chamber was also a camera facing the art object.
The octopus, according to calculations, burned down along with the satellite. The art object ended the journey the way the artist had intended it to happen: it did not stay in orbit. Entering the atmosphere, the figure traveled the same path as the spacecraft. "This fate fits deeply the project's idea. Octo-Pax was holding in its tentacles debris that is common for the orbit, and symbolized the space's cleanup from debris. The art object did not become part of this debris, as it dissolved into the atmosphere, without leaving anything behind over there - outside the Earth," the university said.
The ArcticSat-1 satellite burned down in dense layers of the atmosphere. It had worked in orbit for about a year and a half. Scientists will be processing the data obtained by it for about a year.