Ariane 6 launches Peregrinus: students take on the Sun

Europe’s newest rocket soon launches, taking with it many space missions each with a unique objective, destination and team at home, cheering them on. Whether launching new satellites to look back and study Earth, peer out to deep space or test important new technologies in orbit, Ariane 6’s first flight will showcase the versatility and flexibility of this impressive, heavy-lift launcher. Read on for all about Peregrinus, then see who else is flying first.

Peregrinus is an experiment fixed onboard Ariane 6, developed by high-school students at Sint-Pieterscollege and Institut Vallée Bailly in Belgium. The science mission’s goal in orbit is to measure the correlation between Earth’s magnetic field and the intensity of X-ray and gamma radiation.

The experiment is named after Petrus Peregrinus, a French medieval scholar who studied magnetism and – unusual for his time – favoured an experimental approach to studying the natural world as opposed to a philosophical one.

Orbiting Earth onboard Ariane 6 at an altitude of 580 km, Peregrinus will provide data on the impact of solar activity on and levels of radiation in Earth’s magnetic field. Better understanding in this area helps assess radiation risks to astronauts on the Moon or en route to Mars.

The experiment includes a ‘solid state’ radiation detector – a type of detector in which a semiconductor material, such as silicon, provides a signal when a particle passes through it, ‘liberating’ a charge. This detector is encapsulated in a photodiode or ‘photodetector’ – a semiconductor that translates light into electrical energy.

With Peregrinus, the team will count hard X-ray photons (the highest energy X-rays) and soft Gamma-ray photons (the least energetic Gamma-rays) over a one-second interval, while also measuring Earth’s magnetic field using an ‘LSM9DS1’ inertial measurement device over a period of 10 seconds.

This all-in-one orientation unit can sense and provide information with nine degrees of freedom. It can tell where Earth is and how fast Peregrinus is moving in 3D space by measuring gravity; a magnetometer can determine where magnetic north is, and a gyroscope will measure the upper stage’s spin and twist. All this data is compressed to save space and transmitted to the ground via the Iridium satellite network.

“Every 10 seconds we will get a message with 10 seconds worth of data in it, on radiation striking our detector and Earth’s magnetic field,” explains Erik de Schrijver, Science teacher and Peregrinus Project Leader.

“As well as this, we will get rough positioning data provided by the satellite network and of course, we count on using Ariane 6’s positioning data, too. This magnetic data transmission will continue until stopped by the reentry of the upper stage and with it, our experiment. With all this information, we should get an interesting picture of high-energy radiation striking Earth’s magnetic field.”

But, first and foremost, Peregrinus is a hands-on space education project, providing students with learning opportunities on spacecraft design, space project management, spacecraft testing, and knowledge transfer. These are the first European high school students to put a payload into orbit on a rocket.

The mission shows that with dedication and hard work, high school students can reach orbit and help boost the space ambitions of other children and young people across Europe. 

“This opportunity to fly on the Ariane 6 first flight is one of a kind for our students,” continues Erik. “We hope Peregrinus will create momentum for more ‘high flying’ and hands-on space education projects at all levels.”

Ariane 6 is planned to launch in July 2024. It follows the hugely successful Ariane 5, Europe’s workhorse rocket for more than a quarter century, flying 117 times between 1996 and 2023 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Ariane 6 has been designed for all possible futures. At its core is maximum versatility. It is able to put any satellite or payload into any orbital path. This is made possible with the new restartable Vinci engine that will power up the Ariane 6 upper stage again and again, stopping and starting to insert missions into any orbit they need to be. It will save enough fuel for a final burn to deorbit and reenter safely back through Earth’s atmosphere.