Proba-3 Mission

Table of Contents☰

About Proba-3 Mission:

It is the European Space Agency’s (ESA) first mission dedicated to precision formation flying.
It is the innovative mission which will demonstrate precision formation flying between two satellites to create an artificial eclipse, revealing new views of the Sun’s faint corona.
The core objective of the mission is to create an artificial eclipse by precisely coordinating two independent satellites. This capability will enable scientists to observe the Sun’s corona, a region typically obscured by the intense brightness of the Sun.
It consists of two small satellites — a Coronagraph spacecraft and a solar-disc-shaped Occulter spacecraft.
Working
- By flying in tight formation about 150 metres apart, the Occulter will precisely cast its shadow onto the Coronagraph’s telescope, blocking the Sun’s direct light.
- This will allow the Coronagraph to image the faint solar corona in visible, ultraviolet and polarised light for many hours at a time.
- It will provide new insights into the origins of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — eruptions of solar material that can disrupt satellites and power grids on Earth.
- The mission will also measure total solar irradiance, tracking changes in the Sun’s energy output that may influence Earth’s climate.

Q1: What are Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)?

CMEs are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s atmosphere—the corona, that propagate outward into interplanetary space. During a CME, the sun releases a colossal amount of material, including electrons, protons, and heavier ions, as well as magnetic fields.

News: Europe’s Proba-3 mission to arrive in India for launch aboard PSLV-XL by Isro