Starsem, the Franco-Russian launcher organisation, is preparing to launch the second pair of European Space Agency Cluster satellites, named Rumba and Tango, from Baikonur on 9 August using a Soyuz Fregat booster.
The first two Cluster spacecraft, named Salsa and Samba, were successfully launched from the Cosmodrome in the middle of last month (pictured right). The four Astrium-built satellites will fly in tetrahedral formation studying solar wind and how it interacts with the Earth's magnetosphere in the most intensive study yet undertaken in this area of space research. Each Cluster contains 11 instruments supplied by Austria, France, Germany, Sweden, the UK and the USA.
Source: Flight International