Re: Intercosmos 19

Leo Barhorst (leobarhorst@wxs.nl)
Tue, 09 Dec 1997 16:30:54 +0100

Ron Dantowitz wrote:

> So it [Intercosmos 19] is NOT 3m long, but perhaps long/thin antennae, yielding a > small RCS?
> Comments from any of our lurking surveillance deities?

Searching through several books I have on soviet spacecraft no pictures
of IC 19
were found.

In 'The Encyclopedia of soviet spacecraft' by Douglas Hart, 1987, Bison
Books
London, ISBN 0 86124 350 1, only a description of IC 19 appears on page
34. IC 19
joined the IC 18 sub-satellite Magion and two US geophysical satellites
in the study
of the Earth's magnetosphere. Also Swedish, French, Australian and
Soviet balloon-
and soundingrocket-carried instrument packages were used.
The instruments were:
-Bulgaria: an optical spectrometer; instruments for determining electron
temperatures
and densities in the magnetosphere;
-Czechoslovakia: high and low frequency probes for determining
distribution and temperature of thermal electrons;
-Poland: a radiospectrometer;
-USSR: an ionospheric station with instrumentation for collection data
on photo-
electric pulses and electron showers, a Mayak transmitter and a device
for analyzing plasma flows.

I suspect several of the above instruments could or should be on booms
to avoid interaction with the spacecraft.

-- 
Greetings and clear skies
Leo Barhorst       Alkmaar    The Netherlands
52.65 North        4.47 East  3 m ASL
Every day I wonder about what I see in the sky