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A pair of satellites launched by the European Space Agency on Thursday will cause the first artificial solar eclipse, with scientists flying a spacecraft hundreds of feet away in Earth’s orbit to explore more of the sun’s outer atmosphere over the next two years. You will be able to conduct long-term research.
Over the next two years, the two satellites will fly approximately 500 feet above Earth.
AFP (via Getty Images)
important facts
The Proba-3 mission lifted off on a polar satellite launch vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India, at around 5:35 a.m. ET on Thursday, ESA said, but an issue with the rocket’s propulsion system delayed its launch on Wednesday. was temporarily delayed. .
The agency said Proba-3 is made up of two satellites weighing about 1,210 pounds that will spend the next four months in an elliptical orbit above Earth, covering more than 37,000 miles and 400 miles at its furthest point. He plans to reach less than a mile. Nearest and farthest away.
After an unspecified period of time, the satellites will separate and enter tandem orbits nearly 500 feet apart, marking the first time the spacecraft will fly in precise formation, ESA said.
The spacecraft will align in front of the sun and cast a shadow from one side to the other, blocking the sun’s light and mimicking a natural solar eclipse for up to six hours at a time.
By blocking sunlight, ESA will be able to study different aspects of the sun’s corona. These include why the outside air is hotter than the sun itself, coronal mass ejection (an explosion of plasma and particles from the sun’s surface), and how the solar wind accelerates. .
The two satellites will remain in orbit for the next two years before gradually descending into Earth’s atmosphere, a process that ESA estimates will take about five years.
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amazing facts
To create an artificial solar eclipse, the Proba-3 satellite must maintain a specific position within a millimeter, or the thickness of a fingernail, ESA said. The satellites, less than 5 feet wide, utilize GPS, star trackers, lasers and radio links to fly autonomously.
Is a solar eclipse visible from Earth?
According to ESA, the artificial solar eclipse caused by the Prova 3 satellite will not be visible from Earth. However, images of solar eclipses will be created up to twice a week starting in March 2025 and will be released by the agency.
Main background
ESA announced the Proba-3 mission in 2014, marking the agency’s fourth flight in a series of low-cost orbital missions. Proba-3, which officials estimate will cost about $210 million, will be developed on the heels of the Proba-V mission, launched in 2012 to map the Earth’s vegetation. The Proba-2 mission was launched in 2009 with more than 20 payloads to study the Sun from Earth’s orbit, and the Proba-1 satellite was launched in 2001 to observe Earth. ESA said Proba-3’s goal of achieving a precise orbit “opens up a whole new era of science and applications” and will result in new missions “that can be assembled on a much larger scale.” Ta.
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