Images obtained from the world's first space scanning probe microscope

TASS: Russian scientists have received the first scans from the "Nanozond-1" spacecraft developed with the world's first space scanning probe microscope "SMM-2000S" on board. The launch took place on June 27 from the Vostochny cosmodrome. This was reported by Boris Loginov, the head of the scientific laboratory at MIET.

"The image of 8 microns x 2 microns shows the surface of a polished gold mirror, which for 20 days had been open for cosmic impact, was taken with nanometer accuracy. Its initially flat terrain had an average roughness of no more than 1 nm, but then multiple potholes with a depth of up to 30 nm appeared, apparently from the fast ions of the solar wind. But this is only the first data, and there is a lot of work ahead to collect, analyze and systematize information. Space is being used more and more, and it is very important for us to know where the clean orbits are and how much the space environment affects the surface of spacecraft structures," Boris Loginov said.

Methodologist of the Nanotechnology direction of the National scientific and technological program "Big Challenges" of the Sirius Educational Center, director of the project office of the Turgenev Oryol State University, Yuri Khripunov noted that the first images were obtained during one of the tasks of developing methods for nanoscale research of new materials in outer space.

A team of scientists and employees from MIET, the "PROTON" plant and the Turgenev Oryol State University have been working on the "Nanozond-1" satellite for several years. Since 2021, students of the "Sirius" Educational Center for Gifted Children in Sochi have also joined the project. Read more about the launch here.