🚀 go-pugleaf

The Freja auroral satellite was launched October 6 from the Gobi desert  
aboard a Chinese Long March rocket. Freja is 'Viking II' where Viking  
(pronounced Veeking as in Swedish to distinguish it from the U.S. Mars  
probe of the same name) was a highly successful auroral studies satellite  
launched in 1986. Freja is the name of a Swedish deity.

Of interest to Canadian researchers are a plasma analyser and auroral  
imaging camera operating at about 130 nm in the ultaviolet. The camera  
will allow images to be taken every 6 seconds at down to 2 km resolution.  
This will enable auroral forms to be studied in detail both spatially and  
in time development.

Coordinated studies undertaken in Canada will include correlation of  
magnetic observations and optical and RADAR velocity images with results  
from spacecraft passes over Canada. Data will be received at the Prince  
Albert, Saskatchewan ground station as well as at the European Space  
Agency's ESRANGE in Kiruna, Sweden, which is the spacecraft command  
centre.

Leroy Cogger of the University of Calgary is the imager principal  
investigator. Brian Whalen of the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in  
Ottawa is the PI of the plasma analyzer.

Initial images from the auroral camera were presented at the second Annual  
Meeting of the Canadian Network for Space Research, held October 23-26 in  
Lake Louise, Alberta.

NOTE: this is net participant information only. It is not an official  
comment from any agency referred to.

--
Martin Connors         |
Space Research         | martin@space.ualberta.ca  (403) 492-2526
University of Alberta  |