SPACE EQUIPMENT DEVELOPMENT IN BULGARIA – THE BEGINNING

Tania Ivanova

Abstract

The “Intercosmos” program gave Bulgaria the unique opportunity to participate in space research with its own scientific equipment. On 1 November 1969, a Group of Space Physics with young professionals, headed by the academicians L. Krastanov and K. Serafimov, was created to the Presidium of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Its exceptional task was to design the first Bulgarian space equipment. On 1 December 1972, the first probe device (P-1) for direct measurement of ionosphere plasma parameters was launched successfully onboard the satellite “Intercosmos-8”, and Bulgaria became the 18-th country on the list of “space states”. By the end of 1981, a large number of Bulgarian probe equipment for direct study of the ionosphere and upper atmosphere were developed and launched onboard the satellites “Intercosmos-12, 14 and 19”, “Intercosmos-Bulgaria-1300” and the geophysical rockets “Vertical-3 4,6,7 and 10”.