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Interbol was originally an Intercosmos project with a launch planned for the late 1980's. It consisted of four spacecraft taking precise measurements of different portions of the Earth's magnetic fields. Interbol consisted of two pairs of spacecraft: one pair with orbits of 500 km by 200,000 km (tail probes) and one pair with orbits of 500 km by 20,000 km (auroral probes). Financial and other problems following the break-up of the Soviet Union and the Intercosmos organisation delayed the launches until 1995-1996.
Each pair of spacecraft consisted of a Russian Prognoz-M (1,250 kg tail probes / 1,400 kg auroral probe) and a Czech Magion (50 kg ) satellite. The Prognoz-M spacecraft had a payload capacity of 250-350 kg, and was spin-stabilised with a diameter of 2.3 m, height of 5.0 m, and span with deployed antennas of 12.5 m x 22 m x 22 m. Four solar panels produced up to 250 W for the scientific payload from a total output of 900 W. Both probes carried a variety of plasma and charged particle detectors. Swedish, French, and Canadian instruments were also be on board. The Magion sub-satellites flew in close proximity to the Prognoz but could manoeuvre to as much as 10,000 km from the mother craft.
Total Mass: 1,400 kg.
Particles and fields research. Paired with Magion 4 subsatellite.
Auroral research. Paired with Magion 5 subsatellite.