Universitetsky-Tatyana-2

Universitetsky-Tatyana-2^[4] was a small research and educational satellite mainly developed by Taiwan (National Cheng Kung University and National Central University)^[5] and Russia Moscow State University and launched on 17 September 2009 from Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket.^[6] This satellite was equally sponsored by Taiwan and Russia. Along with teamwork supported by Mexico and South Korea, the two Taiwanese institutions particularly contributed satellite computing systems, flight programmes as well as thermotic, magnetic, and digital data processing devices.

Universitetsky-Tatyana-2

Mission type	Technology demonstration; Education
Operator	MGU
COSPAR ID	2009-049D
SATCAT no.	35868
Mission duration	3 months, 30 days
Spacecraft properties
Launch mass	98 kg (216 lb)[1]
Start of mission
Launch date	17 September 2009, 15:55:07 (2009-09-17UTC15:55:07Z) UTC[2]
Rocket	Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat
Launch site	Baikonur Site 31/6
End of mission
Last contact	16 January 2010 (2010-01-17)
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	820 kilometres (510 mi)
Apogee altitude	827 kilometres (514 mi)
Inclination	98.54 degrees
Period	101.22 minutes
Epoch	6 July 2014, 02:36:45 UTC[3]

Mission objectives

The satellite was part of an international research and educational youth program of near-Earth space exploration. The mission's objectives were:^[7]

• Investigating light phenomena in the Earth's atmosphere due to the effect of galaxy cosmic rays and high-energy charged particles;
• Investigating en-route radiation conditions;
• Investigating variations of the Earth's gravitational and magnetic fields.

Over the course of its mission, Universitetsky-Tatyana-2 detected over 1000 flashes in the Earth's atmosphere.^[1]

End of mission

The Universitetsky-Tatyana-2 spacecraft ended operations on 16 January 2010 due to a failure in the attitude control system.^[1]

See also

• Spaceflight portal

• 2009 in spaceflight