RESIK_weekly

1. RESIK_weekly The launch of CORONAS_F The CORONAS-F launch took place early morning on 31 July 2001 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Below is a schematic map of the Plesetsk range (more info availabla on http://www.russianspaceweb.com/plesetsk.html)

2. Some launch photos Documentary photos of the launch 31 July 2001 ~08:00 UT Może Pan ma jeszcze jakies ciekawe zdjecia ze startu?

3. Detector saturation for X-class events Initial orbital parameters: Period: ~ 95 MIN Perigee: ~501 km Apogee: ~548 Inclination: ~82.5 Such an orbit ensures repeated (~20 day) periods of continuous illumination of the S/C Periods of long CORONAS-F „days” 20 Aug – 1 Sep. 2002 ??? 13 Feb – 8 Mar. 2002 18 May – 5 Jun. 2002 20 Aug – 1 Sep. 2002 next: 8 Feb - 1 Mar. 2003

4. RESIK_weekly Coronas-F rocket The booster used was Tsyclon-3 rocket made by Yuzhnoe in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. (For details of the family of Tsyklone boosters see: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/tsyklon.html). Below are some photos of the rocket, which I found on the Internet. height ~ 40 m weight ~ 190 tons, payload ~ 2400 kg Tsiklon 3 booster SL-14

5. Satellite artist impression The scientific payload called AUOS (http://www.russianspaceweb.com/auos.html) involves several instruments described in more details on the CORONAS-F Project web site (http://coronas.izmiran.rssi.ru/). ~ 8 m across

6. Payload during assembly Placement of our instruments within the payload – assembly phase in Plesetsk Diogeness RESIK Another view later on during assembly. RESIK Diogeness Dispersion planes of RESIK & Diogeness are coaligned.No data are available yet on final coalignment with S/C except the payload specifications ± 5arcmin.

7. Semi-official launch announcement Polish X-ray Package aboard CORONAS-F orbiting observatory After a longer period of relative inactivity, the programme of space astrophysical exploration has been resumed in Russia on August 31, 2001, by launching the CORONAS-F Solar Observatory from Plesetsk Cosmodrome into the polar orbit. Among a dozen of instruments aboard this medium size satellite (~2500 kg) were two Polish instruments – Bragg crystal spectrometers: RESIK and Diogeness developed at the Wroclaw Solar Physics Division of Polish Academy of Sciences Space Research Centre. The principal investigator for both instruments is doc. dr hab. Janusz Sylwester, but the polish instruments launched have been developed under a wide international co-operation. In case of Diogeness flat crystal spectrometer, Ondrejov, Czech Academy of Sciences Astronomical institute has been involved. The Consortium involving the two British institutes has developed RESIK – bent crystal spectrometer: the Mullard Space Science Laboratory and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, the Naval Research Laboratory from USA and the Russian Institute IZMIRAN is leading the entire Mission under guidance of Professor V.N. Oraevsky. In both spectrometers, the ideal crystal lattices of selected monocrystals are used as dispersion elements for the X-ray radiation produced in solar flares – the hottest and the most energetic phenomena in the Solar System. The physics of energy release in flares is not yet known as concerns the basic processes leading to transformation of energy stored in powerful magnetic fields of sunspots into the kinetic energy of particles accelerated up to GeV energy range and heated to tens of million Kelvin. Several important projects have been launched over previous years in order to unveil the physics of huge energy release in flares (in 1980, the NASA’s Solar Maximum Mission, in 1991, the Japanese Yohkoh Observatory, in 1996 the ESA’s SOHO Mission and recently in 2002, the HESSI High Energy Observatory). CORONAS-F with its unique scientific payload complements the SOHO and HESSI covering the intermediate energy range by its observations. The Polish spectrometers have been designed in order to investigate the soft X-ray spectra of flares in the energy range between 2 and 10 keV, where many strong emission lines are present forming in the highly ionised plasma. The strongest lines belong to hydrogen and helium- like ions of aluminium, silicon, sulphur, argon and potassium.. It is known from about 20 years, that the chemical composition of this hot flaring plasma do vary between events depending on the first ionisation potential (FIP) of the particular element. Unexpected discovery of variations of flare plasma composition has been made by Wroclaw team and published in Nature in 1984 and RESIK and Diogeness instruments have been designed in order to determine the composition of hot coronal plasma with the unprecedented accuracy. In Diogeness, in order to resolve the X-ray spectra, the four dispersive elements i.e. flat monocrystals of Quartz (two), silicon and ADP are mounted on the moving shaft and rotated relative to the direction to the Sun. Spectra are measured by four gas-filled proportional detectors. Two Quartz crystals are for the first time mounted in so-called Dopplerometer configuration allowing for precise determination of the motions of emitting plasma along the line of sight. In addition, the broadband detectors in two energy regions monitor the time variations of solar X-ray flux: 2 – 4 keV and 4 – 8 keV with high time resolution (2 sec.). In RESIK, instead of rotating the crystal, its surface is bent in order to resolve the spectrum that is recorded using unique position sensitive proportional counter. The size of Quartz and silicon monocrystals (130mm x 40mm) used is unprecedented and allows to observe not only the flare spectra, but also spectra of solar corona in periods of lower solar activity. Studies of K/Ar abundance ratio variations for flares may shed more light on the problem of basic mechanisms of energy release in flares. Understanding of basic energy release processes is of basic importance for astrophysics, as flares are observed on most of stars and the other objects. Observing solar flares gives the best chances to see details of the process because of solar proximity. This proximity put us, observers, in some danger however, as solar flares, especially these most energetic, strongly influence space weather. Large flares caused power-outs in energetic grids (Quebec, in 1989) and lost of few satellites in orbit. They present substantial radiation exposure threat to the astronauts/cosmonauts inhabiting the International Space Station. Analysis of Diogeness and RESIK data may help to better predict the occurrence of such large events. We are changing the operation modes of the instruments as solar activity dictates, by reprogramming onboard instrument computers remotely from the ground using dedicated ground station near Moscow. Data from described Polish spectrometers are unique and of primary importance for solar physics and will shortly be available to the community, after initial data reformatting is finished. The amount of data already collected is ~2 GB and increases at the rate of 50 MB/day. The expected life of CORONAS-F satellite is expected to be as long as the system will work covering thus the decaying portion of 23rd cycle of solar activity.