IRF in space


The Swedish Institute of Space Physics has a long and successful history of providing instruments and services for space research projects.

On this page, we provide an overview of all projects from the year 1968 to 2023 where IRF participates or has participated through scientific instruments, parts, construction services or software.

Comet Interceptor (2029)

Destination: Comet
Launch: 
2029
Instrument: 
SCIENA (Solar wind Cometary Ions and Energetic Neutral Atoms) and COMPLIMENT (COMetary Plasma Light InstruMENT)
Status: under development
Links: IRF

AYAP-1 (2026)

Destination: Moon
Launch: planned to 2026
Instrument: LNT (Lunar Neutrals Telescope)
Status: under development
Links: under construction

ISRO Venus Orbiter

Destination: Venus
Launch:
Instrument: VNA (Venusian Neutrals Analyzer)
Status: under development
Links: 
Swedish Institute of Space Physics return to Venus on Indian space mission

JUICE (2023)

Destination: Jupiter
Launch: 2023
Instrument: PEP (Particle Environment Package) and RPWI (Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation)
Status: Launched April 14 2023. 
Link: IRF

JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) Photo: ESA/ATG medialab
Solar Orbiter (2020)

Destination: Sun
Launch: 2020
Instrument: RPW (Radio and Plasma Wave)
Status: Launched
Link: IRF

Copyright: ESA/AOES
Chang’e 4 (2018)

Destination: Moon
Launch: 2018
Instrument: ASAN (Advanced Small Analyzer for Neutrals)
Status: Launched. On the lunar surface.
Link: IRF

BepiColombo MPO (2018)

Destination: Mercury
Launch: 2018
Instrument: MIPA (Miniature Ion Precipitation Analyzer)
Status: Launched
Link: IRF

BepiColombo MMO (2018)

Destination: Mercury
Launch: 2018
Instrument: ENA (Energetic Neutrals Analyzer) and Mercury Electric Field In Situ TOoL (MEFISTO)/Plasma Wave Instrument (PWI)
Status: Launched
Link: IRF

Magnetospheric MultiScale - MMS (2015)

Destination: Earths magnetosphere 
Launch: 2015
Status: Delivering data
Link: IRF 

Swarm (2013)

Destination: Earths ionosphere 
Launch: 2013
Instrument: Langmuir probe
Status: Delivering data
Link: IRF

Phobos-Grunt (2011)

Destination: Mars
Launch: 2011
Instrument: DIM (Detector for Ions at Mars)
Status: Failed to leave Earth orbit
Link: IRF

Yinghuo-1 (2011)

Destination: Mars
Launch: 2011
Instrument: YPP-i1 och YPP-i2 (two ion mass analysers and the electron sensor for the Yinghuo Plasma Package, YPP)
Status: Failed to leave Earth orbit
Link: IRF

Prisma (2010)

Destination: Earth orbit 
Launch: 2010
Instrument: PRIMA (PRIsma Mass Analyzer)
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

Chandrayaan-1 (2008)

Destination: Moon
Launch: 2008
Instrument: SARA
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

Venus Express (2005)

Destination: Venus
Launch: 2005
Instrument: ASPERA-4
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

Double Star TC-2 (2004)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 2004
Instrument: NUADU
Status: Completed
Link: ESA 

The NUADU instrument (Neutral Atom Detector Unit). Photo: Jonas Olsen, IRF.

Double Star TC-2 was a Chinese satellite which was launched in July 2004, from Taiyuan, China, to study the Earth’s plasma environment from a polar orbit.

IRF contributed, together with Ireland and China, to the Neutral Atom Detector Unit (NUADU), designed to detect energetic neutral atoms which originate from the interaction of space plasma with the neutral gas surrounding our planet. This enabled us to visualize movement in the invisible plasma in the magnetosphere around the Earth.

 

Rosetta (2004)

Destination: Comet 67-P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Launch: 2004
Instrument: ICA, LAP
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

SMART-1 (2003)

Destination: Moon
Launch: 2003
Instrument: D-CIXS
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

Mars Express (2003)

Destination: Mars
Launch: 2003
Instrument: ASPERA-3 (Analyzer of Space Plasmas and Energetic Atoms)
Status: Delivers data
Link: IRF

Cluster (2000)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 2000
IRF instrument EFW (Electric Field and Wave experiment) and contribute to CIS (Cluster Ion Spectrometry experiment) and RAPID (Research with Adaptive Particle Imaging Detectors).
Status: Delivers data
Links: IRFESA , 3D-model Cluster

Cluster is a scientific investigation of space led by the European Space Agency (ESA). The four identical satellites fly in formation in orbits over the Earth’s poles, each with eleven instruments on board to study electric and magnetic fields as well as charged particles. The satellites provide the researchers with a detailed three-dimensional map of the magnetosphere. 

Following a failed launch of ESA’s four Cluster satellites in 1996, a new attempt was made in 2000. The satellites were launched in pairs on 16 July and 9 August 2000 from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.

Munin (2000)

Destination: Earth orbit 
Launch: 2000
Instrument: DINA, HiSCC, MEDUSA
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

Astrid-2 (1998)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 1998
Instrument: Medusa, PIA-1,-2,-3
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

Nozomi (1998)

Destination: Mars
Launch: 1998
Instrument: IMI
Status: Failed to reach destination
Link: ISAS 

Cassini (1997)

Destination: Saturn
Launch: 1997
Instrument: Langmuir probe
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

Mars-96 (1996)

Destination: Mars
Launch: 1996
Instrument: ASPERA-C
Status: Failed to leave Earth orbit
Link: IKI

Cluster (1996)

Destination: Earth orbit 
Launch: 1996
IRF instrument EFW (Electric Field and Wave experiment) and contribute to CIS (Cluster Ion Spectrometry experiment) and RAPID (Research with Adaptive Particle Imaging Detectors).
Status: Failed during launch
Links: ESAMPS 

The four Cluster satellites were intended to fly in formation around the Earth and investigate its magnetosphere and interaction with the solar wind in three dimensions. A new set of Cluster satellites was launched successfully in 2000.

Interball-2 (1996)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 1996
Instrument: PROMICS-3
Status: Completed
Links: IRF

Interball-1 (1995)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 1995
Instrument: PROMICS-3
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

Astrid 1 (1995)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 1995
Instrument: EMIL, MIO, PIPPI
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

Freja (1992)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 1992
Instrument: F3H, F4
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

Ulysses (1990)

Destination: Sun
Launch: 1990
Instrument: EPAC (Energetic Particle Composition Experiment)
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

Phobos 2 (1988)

Destination: Mars
Launch: 1988
Instrument: ASPERA
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

Phobos 1 (1988)

Destination: Mars
Launch: 1988
Instrument: ASPERA
Status: Failed to reach destination
Link: IRF

Viking (1986)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 1986
Instrument: V3, V4L
Status: Completed
Link: IRF

Giotto (1985)

Destination: Comet Halley
Launch: 1985
Instrument: Design and manufacture of two pieces of ground-based equipment to test an calibrate ”The Johnstone Plasma Analyzer” (JPA). IRF’s participation in the Giotto project was in a consortium led by a British group at Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL).
Status: Completed
Links: ESA , NASA 3D-model Giotto

Prognoz-8 (1980)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 1980
Instrument: PROMICS-2 
Status: Completed
Links: IKI , NASA 

Prognoz-7 (1978)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 1978
Instrument: PROMICS-1 
Status: Completed
Links: IKI , NASA 

Geos 2 (1978)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 1978
Instrument: S-310 
Status: Completed
Link: NASA 

Geos 1 (1977)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 1977
Instrument: S-310
Status: Completed
Link: NASA 

Esro 4 (1972)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 1972
Instrument: Auroral Particle Spectrometer
Status: Completed
Link: NASA 

Esro 1 Boreas (1969)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 1969
Instrument: S71B
Status: Completed
Links: ESA , NASA 

Esro 1 Aurorae (1968)

Destination: Earth orbit
Launch: 1968
Instrument: S71B
Status: Completed
Links: ESA , NASA 

Created by Annelie Klint Nilsson at

Last modified by Annelie Klint Nilsson at