TARANIS

TARANIS
Mission typeMagnetosphere,
ionosphere and
atmosphere studies
OperatorCentre national d'études spatiales (CNES)
Websitehttps://taranis.cnes.fr
Mission duration4 years (planned) [1]
Spacecraft properties
BusMyriade
ManufacturerCentre national d'études spatiales (CNES)
Launch mass175 kg
Power85 watts
Start of mission
Launch date17 November 2020,
01:52:20 UTC
RocketVega VV17
Launch siteCentre Spatial Guyanais, ELV
ContractorAvio, Italy
End of mission
Decay dateLaunch failure (4th stage)
Cause: human error
Last contact: November 17, 2020
Did not achieve orbit, so decay was imminent[2]
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
RegimeSun-synchronous orbit
Altitude676.0 km
Inclination98.19°
 

TARANIS (Tool for the Analysis of Radiation from lightning and Sprites) was an observation satellite of the French Space Agency (CNES) which would have studied the transient events produced in the Earth's atmospheric layer between 10 km (6.2 mi) and 100 km (62 mi) altitude.[3][4] TARANIS was launched in November 2020 with SEOSat-Ingenio aboard Vega flight VV17 and would have been placed in a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 676 km, for a mission duration of two to four years, but the rocket failed shortly after launch.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference LaunchKit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference SFN20201117 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Taranis". taranis.cnes.fr. CNES. 24 April 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  4. ^ Lefeuvre, Francois; Blanc, Elisabeth; Pinçon, Jean-Louis; Roussel-Dupré, Robert; Lawrence, David; Sauvaud, Jean-André; Rauch, Jean-Louis; Feraudy, Hervé de; Lagoutte, Dominique (1 June 2008). "TARANIS—A Satellite Project Dedicated to the Physics of TLEs and TGFs" (PDF). Space Science Reviews. 137 (1–4): 301–315. Bibcode:2008SSRv..137..301L. doi:10.1007/s11214-008-9414-4. ISSN 0038-6308. S2CID 121504846.