Aug 9 2000
From The Space Library
A Starsem Soyuz-Fregat rocket launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying into orbit for the European Space Agency (ESA) the final pair of Cluster II scientific satellites, Rumba and Tango. The launch was the 10th consecutive success for the French-Russian Starsem consortium. The first pair of Cluster II satellites, named Salsa and Samba, had launched on 16 July 2000. Designed to determine the physical process of the interaction between the solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere, the mission's main objective was to increase understanding of space weather, viewed as "an increasingly significant obstacle to satellite activity," thereby improving scientists' forecasting abilities. Each of the four spacecraft contained a collection of instruments for detecting plasma fields, waves, and particles. The Cluster II mission, designed to last for two years following an initial three-month period of instrument and system commissioning, was an international effort of more than 200 scientists from Canada, China, the Czech Republic, ESA member states, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Russia, and the United States. The original Cluster mission had ended during its inaugural launch in 1996, when a malfunction had caused the explosion of Arianespace Inc.'s Ariane 5 rocket.
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