Article Posted on : - Nov 23, 2013

ESA Swarm satellite

MOSCOW (AFP): The European Space Agency on Friday launched a rocket carrying a trio of hi-tech satellites to explore the Earth's magnetic field from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwestern Russia.

The USD 276-million Swarm mission blasted off on a Russian-built Rokot rocket launcher on a foggy afternoon punctually at 16:02 GMT, the European Space Agency showed in a live video feed.

The sophisticated satellites, each weighing 470-kilo, carry instruments on an extendable boom.

They are due to operate at extremely low altitudes close to the edge of the atmosphere to measure the strength, orientation and fluctuations of the Earth's geomagnetic field.

Two will fly initially at 460 kilometres, reduced after four years to just 300 kilometres -- where there are lingering molecules of atmosphere.

The third will start at 530 kilometres to offer a different angle of view.