The European satellite, Proba-3, successfully launched into space on December 5 from Sriharikota, after its scheduled lift-off on December 4 was delayed due to a technical snag.
Proba-3 is a cutting-edge Sun-observing mission aboard the PSLV-C59, the flagship rocket of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It aims to advance global efforts to understand the economic and technological risks of space weather.
ISRO chief S Somnath confirms the next big mission from the space agency will be the Space Docking Experiment (Spadex). It could happen in December itself.
Spadex will feature two 400-kg satellites, dubbed “Chaser” and “Target”, launched together aboard a PSLV-class rocket.
Once positioned at an altitude of 700 km, these satellites will carry out a precisely orchestrated rendezvous, culminating in their autonomous docking to form a single, unified unit in orbit.
This manoeuvre is crucial for future projects that require docking capabilities, such as space station assembly, satellite refuelling, and the transfer of astronauts or cargo between spacecraft.
What is Proba 3?
‘Proba’ refers to a series of experimental missions conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA) and is derived from the Latin phrase “Let us try”. Proba-1 started the journey, followed in 2009 by Proba-2, which observed the Sun, and in 2013, Proba-V for Vegetation, which observed the Earth.
Teams from 14 European nations and 29 industrial partners worked on the Proba-3 mission, which was built at an estimated cost of 200 million euros. In collaboration with ISRO’s commercial arm, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), which assisted in the development of the launch vehicle, these teams spent more than ten years developing the satellites for the mission. Proba-3, which has a two-year mission life, is intended to create an artificial eclipse in order to investigate the Sun’s corona at a completely new scale.
Two ESA satellites, each weighing around 550 kg, were launched by the PSLV-C59 into a highly elliptical orbit that is approx 600 x 60,530 km with a 19.7-hour orbital period. At 4:12 pm, the Proba-3 satellites were launched from the spaceport’s first launch pad from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
Objectives of Proba-3
The latest member of ESA’s family of in-orbit demonstration missions, Proba-3 is in fact two spacecraft being launched together, which in orbit will separate to begin performing precise formation flying, precise to a single millimetre, about the thickness of an average fingernail.
To prove their performance, Proba-3 has been devoted to an ambitious scientific goal. The pair will line up precisely with the Sun 150 metre apart so that one casts a precisely controlled shadow onto the other.
On Earth, total solar eclipses only occur every 18 months on average, and last just for a few minutes. Solar scientists have to travel all over the world to take advantage of them. Proba-3 will be able to create solar eclipses on demand, observing closer to the edge of the Sun than any previous Earth- or space-based instrument, down to just 1.1 solar radii. And it will do so for six hours per 19-hour 36-minute orbit.