Swarm starts mission to monitor Earth’s magnetic field

The three-satellite Swarm constellation, launched into a near-polar orbit by a Russian Rockot launcher, is expected to provide new insights into the workings of the magnetic shield that protects Earth’s biosphere from charged particles and cosmic radiation.

Over the next four years they will perform precise measurements to evaluate its current weakening and understand how it contributes to global change.

The Rockot launcher lifted off from the Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia at 12:02 GMT today. Around 91 minutes later, its Breeze-KM upper stage released the three satellites into a near-polar circular orbit at an altitude of 490km. Contact was established with the trio minutes later through the Kiruna station in Sweden and the Svalbard station in Norway.

All three satellites are controlled by ESA teams at the European Space Operation Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. They will soon deploy their 4m-long instrument booms and over the next three months of commissioning, their scientific payloads will be verified and they will move to their respective operational orbits.