OREANDA-NEWS. December 10, 2008. Coronas-Photon integrated tests are over. Today the State Board is to meet to accept the spacecraft and provide the "go" for Coronas-Photon shipment to the Plesetsk space port for further prelaunch processing.

Coronas-Photon research will help to prepare human expedition to Mars, as well as to study influence on the climate processes on the Earth provided by Solar flares.

According to Yury Kotov, Moscow Astrophysics Institute and Coronas-Photon project manager, the project is aimed at three objectives: to study Solar effects in different bands, to develop short-term predictions, and to study the Sun as a star.

"There is a prediction which says that during the human mission to Mars, the Sun will be less active than now. However, protons may become more active, which is a threat for human`s health and life", states Mr. Kotov. If it is true, there is still some time to get prepared for the Mars mission.

"Our project covers study of high-energy processes which occur during Solar flares", notes Yury Kotov. "We have to study solar influence and impacts provided by the human activities separately in order to make important decisions about climate changes on our planet", says the scientist. Most of the scientific instruments to be installed on Coronas-Photon are produced in Russia. The spacecraft is planned for launch in January.