The Proba-3 mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) has successfully completed its final evaluation, setting the stage for its transport to India, where it is scheduled for launch by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on November 29. This mission comprises two satellites specifically engineered to generate an artificial solar eclipse in space. The recent assessment validated the operational functionality of the satellites, as they effectively responded to commands and relayed images, thereby mimicking their expected performance in orbit. Proba-3 employs a groundbreaking technique involving two satellites that fly in close formation, with one satellite obscuring the Sun’s disk from the other, thus producing a shadow. This configuration will facilitate prolonged observations of the Sun’s corona, a task that has proven challenging for earlier missions. During a comprehensive 12-hour test, a segment of Proba-3’s 19.5-hour elliptical orbit around Earth was replicated, concentrating on the six-hour interval when the satellites reach their farthest point from Earth, known as apogee.
This phase is crucial for both formation flying and corona observation. Commands were dispatched from the Royal Observatory of Belgium to ESA’s control center in Redu, which subsequently relayed them to the satellites located in a cleanroom at Redwire Space in Kruibeke. This concluding System Validation Test (SVT) was crucial for verifying the mission’s preparedness, as it assessed the ground segment facilities, software, and personnel responsible for mission management. Additionally, it confirmed the efficacy of the command transmission process for calibration, scientific observations, and real-time updates, thereby ensuring adaptability in response to unforeseen solar phenomena. Engineers emphasized the significance of these evaluations to facilitate seamless communication between the satellites and the ground team, underscoring the mission’s highly automated systems. With the testing phase now finalized, Proba-3 is scheduled for transport to India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre on October 21, in anticipation of its planned launch aboard a PSLV-XL rocket on November 29. Proba-3 represents the latest addition to ESA’s series of experimental minisatellites, advancing developments in space technology and solar research.
