Intercosmos 18 & Magion 1

Launch Success

Liftoff Time (GMT)

19:00:00

Tuesday October 24, 1978

Mission Details

Magion 1

Magion 1 was a czechoslovakian subsatellite that separated from Intercosmos 18 on 14 November 1978. It was magnetically stabilized and was designed to carry ionospheric-type experiments related to the International Magnetospheric Study. MAGION had a prismatic shape (0.3 × 0.3 × 0.15 m) and followed the orbit of Interkosmos 18. Czechoslovak participation in studies of mutual relations between the earth's magnetosphere and ionosphere consisted mainly of measuring VLF phenomena on board MAGION, which was moving slowly away from Intercosmos 18, and in cooperating in the measurements of plasma properties in the vicinity of this satellite.

Low Earth Orbit

1 Payload

Intercosmos 18

Launched during the IMS period, Intercosmos 18 experiment objective was to study the character of the ionosphere-magnetosphere coupling by continuing experiments similar to those on Intercosmos 10. Both real-time and stored data modes were used. The satellite measurements were accompanied by simultaneous ground-based, balloon, and rocket observations. The parameters were - Geomagnetic field (3 components) - Low-energy particle fluxes and their angular distributions (electrons and positive ions, 100 eV to 50 keV. - VLF wave electric and magnetic components (100 Hz to 16 kHz), electrostatic fields of magnetospheric-ionospheric origin by a double-probe technique (3 components) - Electron and ion densities and temperatures using several techniques, and the ion and neutral composition of the upper atmosphere.

Low Earth Orbit

1 Payload

990 kilograms

Rocket

Retired
Cosmos-3M

Active 1967 to 2010

OKB-586 logo

Manufacturer

OKB-586

Rocket

Height: 32.42m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 1,500 kg

GTO: 0 kg

Liftoff Thrust

1,486 Kilonewtons

Fairing

Diameter: 2.44m

Height: 5.72m

Stages

2

Launch Site

Site 132/1

Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia

Fastest Turnaround

2 days 5 hours

Stats

Cosmos-3


210th

Mission

15th

Mission of 1978

OKB-586


1262nd

Mission

71st

Mission of 1978

1978


103rd

Orbital launch attempt