Proba-3 is ESA’s—and the world’s—first precision formation flying mission. A pair of satellites will fly collectively relative to the sun in order that one casts a precisely-controlled shadow onto the opposite, to create a chronic solar eclipse in orbit.
Within the course of, the mission will open up the sun’s faint surrounding coronal environment for sustained examine. Usually, this corona is rendered invisible by the good face of the sun, like a firefly subsequent to a bonfire.
Due for launch collectively this autumn, the 2 Proba-3 satellites will fly 144-m aside for as much as six hours at a time to create these eclipses. Beside its scientific curiosity, this experiment shall be an ideal methodology to reveal the exact positioning of the 2 platforms. It will likely be enabled utilizing a novel mixture of steering applied sciences. On this video, the Proba-3 workforce particulars the mission idea.
Supplied by
European Space Agency
Quotation:
Video: Eclipse-making double-satellite Proba-3 (2024, June 12)
retrieved 12 June 2024
from https://phys.org/information/2024-06-video-eclipse-satellite-proba.html
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