Interkosmos 22 (Bulgaria 1300, 11F65)

Interkosmos 22 (Bulgaria 1300)

The spacecraft contained a set of plasma, particles, fields, and optical experiments that were designed and constructed in Bulgaria. The spacecraft was three-axis stabilized, based on the Meteor bus, with the negative Z-axis pointing toward the center of the earth and the X-axis pointing along the velocity vector. The outer skin of the spacecraft, including the solar panels, was coated with a conducting material in order to allow the proper measurement of electric fields and low energy plasma. Both active and passive thermal control were employed. The solar panels supplied 2 kW and batteries were used during eclipse periods. There were two tape recorders, each with a capacity of 60 megabits. The transmitter radiated about 10 W in the 130-MHz band.

Experiments on board were:

• Ion Drift Meter and Retarding Potential Analyzer
• Spherical Electrostatic Ion Trap
• Cylindrical Langmuir Probe
• Double Spherical Electron Temperature Probes
• Low-Energy Electron-Proton Electrostatic Analyzer Array in 3 Orthogonal Directions
• Ion Energy-Mass Composition Analyzers
• Wavelength Scanning UV Photometer
• Proton Solid-State Telescope
• Visible Airglow Photometers
• Triaxial Spherical Vector Electric Field Probes
• Triaxial Fluxgate Magnetometer