Departing from Indian soil, the Proba-3 mission wants to study the sun through its atmosphere (heliosphere)!
The European Space Agency (ESA), with support from NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), successfully launched the Proba-3 mission, placing a pair of artificial eclipse-generating satellites into orbit around the Earth.
Also read:
Objective of the Proba-3 mission
With this mission, ESA wants to study the heliospherethe atmosphere of the sun, by artificially creating eclipses lasting several hours. To do this, it created a system of 2 satellites: the first will project a maintained shadow which will be used by the second to observe the sun.
Millimeter formation flight technology
To achieve this feat, the two satellites will distance themselves 150 meters with a precision of the order of millimeters and will synchronize their movement to maintain the longest possible occultation and ensure the most qualitative observation.
Creation of artificial solar eclipses
This system makes it possible to correct the biases of coronagraphs existing on Earth whose internal occulting disks, which simulate the eclipse, create strong diffraction: the blocked light creates interference with the light that wants to be observed. With this imager in 2 parts sufficiently far apart (150 meters), diffraction is reduced.
Solar corona temperature investigation
ESA scientists will also use these observations to better understand why the heliosphere is much hotter than the surface of the Sun, between 5400 and 5800 degrees on its surface, while it can reach a million degrees !
Track coronal mass ejections
Thanks to its observations, scientists will be able to analyze coronal mass ejections (massive eruptions of plasma and magnetic field), their impact on the acceleration of solar winds just like on terrestrial technologies (GPS for example).
Collaboration internationale
This international project is the result of a collaboration between 14 pays members of ESA, Canada, but also India for the launch part. This massive involvement shows the crucial interest generated by the Proba-3 mission.
Mission phases and first observations
While the pair has been in orbit since December 5, 2024, it is at the beginning of January 2025 that the 2 satellites will separate to take their working position, and we will still have to wait until March 2025 for the pair of satellites to make these first observations of the solar corona.
A bright future for these technologies
The technology of synchronized flights long duration at the edge of our atmosphere between several devices is a first which will open the way to missions using the same technology for varied purposes.
$3 million to be won: NASA has a problem and will pay you a lot of money if you find the solution
This article traces the launch of ESA's Proba-3 mission from India. It was designed to generate artificial solar eclipses in space using two satellites with synchronized flights with millimeter precision. The eclipses thus created will make it possible to study the heliosphere in detail and the impacts of the phenomena it harbors.
Source : ESA
