Czech version

Broadband analyzer IME-HF
for TARANIS the TARANIS mission

TARANIS (Tool for the Analysis of RAdiations from lightNIng and Sprites) is a scientific micro-satellite of the French space agency CNES. The spacecraft platform is based on the MYRIADE series. Its launch on a Sun synchronous polar orbit at 700 km altitude is planned for 2018. The anticipated lifetime will be 2-4 years.

TARANIS will carry a complex payload of six scientific instruments to study radiation and from lightning and optical phenomena (Transient Luminous Events) observed at altitudes between 20 and 100 km (blue jets, red sprites, halos, elves). The scientific instruments onboard TARANIS will detect electromagnetic radiation from very low frequencies up to 37 MHz, optical radiation, X rays (with an aim to study the Terrestrial "Gamma-ray" Flashes), and energetic electrons.

TARANIS with red sprites

Our team at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Prague lead by O. Santolik (lead co-investigator) from the Department of Space Physics , and I. Kolmasova (technical manager) from the Department of Upper Atmosphere actively participates on the preparation of the TARANIS mission. We are building a broad-band analyzer for the IME-HF instrument (IME-HF stands for "Instrument de Mesure du champ Electrique Haute Frequence"). This instrument will record waveform measurements of fluctuating electric fields in the frequency range from a few kHz up to 37 MHz, with the following scientific aims:

The instrument will be able to trigger and record interesting intervals of data using a flexible event detection algorithm.


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