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Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Description  





2 Launch  





3 Decommissioning  





4 See also  





5 References  





6 External links  














Essaim (satellite)






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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

(Redirected from Essaim 4)

Essaim (swarm, in French) was a French military reconnaissance microsatellite constellation. Its main purpose was to collect and map signals intelligence around the world. The Direction générale de l'armement (DGA) described it as a "vacuum cleaner for [radio] waves".

Description[edit]

Essaim was a constellation of four 120 kg microsatellites (one of which was a spare) in low Earth orbit (LEO). They were demonstration models which were supposed to last three years. They flew separated by a few hundreds of kilometers. Missions were designed by the Celar (Centre d'électronique de l'armement) in Bruz, near Rennes and were uploaded from CNESinToulouse to the constellation. Collected data followed the same path in reverse order.

Launch[edit]

The constellation was launched from Kourou, in French Guiana, by an Ariane 5 G+ launch vehicle on 18 December 2004. The flight was shared with Helios 2A and two other auxiliary payloads: Parasol and Nanosat 01.

Individual members of the constellation were Essaim 1 (COSPAR ID: 2004-049C), Essaim 2 (COSPAR ID: 2004-049D), Essaim 3 (COSPAR ID: 2004-049E) and Essaim 4 (COSPAR ID: 2004-049F).[1]

Decommissioning[edit]

ESSAIM disposal and passivation operations took place in October 2010. The satellites are expected to reenter within 15 to 19 years (2025-2029).

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Essaim 1, 2, 3, 4".

External links[edit]


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  • Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Essaim_(satellite)&oldid=1229748193"

    Categories: 
    Reconnaissance satellites of France
    Signals intelligence satellites
    Spacecraft launched in 2004
    Spacecraft launched by Ariane rockets
    Derelict satellites orbiting Earth
    Satellite constellations
    Satellites in low Earth orbit
    Military equipment introduced in the 2000s
    European spacecraft stubs
    France stubs
    French military stubs
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    Use British English from November 2020
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    This page was last edited on 18 June 2024, at 14:35 (UTC).

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