Project VARIANT: Current and field measurements on board SICH-1M satellite

International audienceVARIANT is a joint international space experiment on current density measurements in ionospheric-magnetospheric plasmas. The experiment will be performed onboard the Ukrainian remote sensing satellite SICH-1M, that will be launched in 2000 at the polar circular orbit with the inclination of around 83 degrees and altitude 670 +/- 30 km. The scientific payload includes three instruments for registration of space current density: a split Langmuir probe, a Rogovski coil and a Faraday cup. The first two of these instruments are dedicated to measure current density variations and the last the particles' fluxes. The equipment also includes sensors for measurements of the electric and magnetic field fluctuations in the frequency range from 0.1 Hz to 40 kHz. Main objectives of the VARIANT mission are as follows: (C) 2000 COSPAR