The Center of Astronomy and the Center for Space Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences have received funds for the construction of two scientific research satellites.
These are to be the first two Polish satellites in space. According to professor Aleksander Schwartzenberg-Czerny from the Center of Astronomy, the first Polish satellite will be placed on the orbit in 2011, the next a year later.
The Polish satellites will be constructed in line with the devices proposed by the BRIghtTarget Explorer (BRITE) Constellation, which is a joint Canadian-Austrian project.
BRITE are small 20 centimeter cubes, not exceeding a mass of 6kilos and are equipped with innovative technologies including reaction wheels, star tracker and optical telescope. Initially the fleet of the BRITE satellites was to consist of two such devices constructed in Canada and two in Austria. Now it is to expand by the two satellites from Poland.
The BRITE nanosatellites examine the brightest stars in the sky . Each BRITE satellite observes a region of interest for some 100 days, which allows the measurement of stellar oscillations. (ab/mmj)