ESA’s PROBA-3 Mission To Create Artificial Solar Eclipse Successfully Launched

The European Space Agency (ESA) teams up with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the low-cost PROBA-3 mission, scheduled to launch on Wednesday, 4 December. The double-satellite mission will be sent into space aboard a PSLV-XL rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. The launch is scheduled for 11:38 CET (10:38 GMT, 16:08 local time).

This marks a significant milestone as the first ESA mission to use an ISRO launcher since the Proba-1 Earth observation mission in 2001.

Successful Liftoff Of Proba-3

On 5th December, the PSLV-C59 rocket lifted off to deploy ESA’s groundbreaking PROBA-3 satellites.

“PSLV-C59 has successfully soared into the skies, marking the commencement of a global mission led by NSIL, with ISRO’s technical expertise, to deploy ESA’s groundbreaking PROBA-3 satellites. A proud moment celebrating the synergy of international collaboration and India’s space achievements!” ISRO wrote on X.

PROBA-3 Launch Faces A Delay

Updated on 4th December

As ISRO posted on X, the PROBA-3 mission has been rescheduled to 5th December.

“Due to an anomaly detected in PROBA-3 spacecraft PSLV-C59/PROBA-3 launch rescheduled to tomorrow at 16:12 hours,” they wrote.

PROBA-3 Mission: Two Spacecraft To Create Artificial Eclipse

The mission’s scientific goal is to study the solar corona, the Sun’s outer atmosphere, which is usually hidden by the Sun’s brightness. By blocking the Sun’s disk with the occulter, the coronagraph can observe the corona without interference, similar to conditions during a total solar eclipse.

According to ESA, PROBA-3 is a unique mission of two spacecraft launched together. Once in orbit, they will separate to execute highly precise formation flying. Their synchronisation will achieve accuracy down to a single millimetre, roughly the thickness of a fingernail.

The mission’s scientific goal is equally ambitious. The two spacecraft will align perfectly with the Sun, maintaining a precise 150-meter separation. This unique configuration will allow one spacecraft to cast a controlled shadow onto the other, enabling groundbreaking observations and experiments never before possible.

During each orbit around Earth, the satellites will have a six-hour window to observe the solar corona.

Observing The Sun’s “Corona”

On Earth, total solar eclipses occur approximately every 18 months and last only a few minutes, requiring solar scientists to travel globally to study them. PROBA-3, however, will revolutionise solar observations by ‘creating’ eclipses on demand.

During the experiment, PROBA-3’s “Occulter” spacecraft will block the Sun’s disc, enabling its partner, the “Coronagraph,” to capture detailed images of the Sun’s “corona,” a region usually obscured by its brightness.

It will observe closer to the Sun’s edge than any previous Earth- or space-based instrument, reaching as close as 1.1 solar radii. The mission will sustain these observations for six hours during each 19-hour, 36-minute orbit.

Goals Of PROBA-3 Mission

Beyond its primary goal of solar observation, PROBA-3 will also test different ways of flying the two spacecraft together, such as meeting up, changing the distance between them, and aiming at new targets as a pair.

The goal is to make the two spacecraft work together so precisely that they act like one large spacecraft about 150 meters wide. This approach shows a new way to run missions in space, where multiple spacecraft can share tools and instruments to work as a team.

How To Watch PROBA-3 Launch Broadcast

Watch the PROBA-3 launch live through ISRO’s YouTube channel or ESA Web TV. The live broadcast, hosted by the Indian Space Research Organisation, will begin at 11:08 CET (10:08 GMT, 15:38 local time) and provide comprehensive coverage starting 30 minutes before liftoff. 

Key mission moments include satellite separation, expected approximately 18 minutes after launch, and the first signal acquisition by ESA’s flight control team at the ESEC establishment in Redu, Belgium, roughly 15 minutes later.