We’re back: Proba-3 ready for more science

In February, something extremely unlikely happened – an anomaly onboard Proba-3’s Coronagraph spacecraft led to loss of contact between the spacecraft and ground control. 

For the mission team, operators, engineers and industry partners, the past months have been full of working around the clock, brainstorming, troubleshooting and testing to get the lost spacecraft back and salvage the mission. 

Fortunately, the ending is a happy one – thanks to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved, ESA’s eclipse-maker is finally ready to return to routine operations.

Get ready for more science

“Last week, we performed the first formation flight since the anomaly, and we can now say with confidence that all systems are working as they should,” confirms Damien Galano, Proba-3 Mission Manager. “With the Coronagraph spacecraft successfully recovered, the mission can now resume its routine operations.”  

“After performing very careful checks of the ASPIICS coronagraph instrument, I’m very happy to confirm that it’s healthy and fully functional,” says Andrei Zhukov of the Royal Observatory of Belgium, the principal investigator for ASPIICS. “Last week’s formation flight allowed us to capture new images of the corona, and they look as spectacular as the ones taken before the incident occurred.” 

Meanwhile, the first results from the data collected by the mission have been published, suggesting that solar wind structures in the inner corona can travel three to four times faster than scientists thought.  

“Our first results are very promising, and I can’t wait to see the future science that Proba-3 has in store for us,” adds Andrei.

Happy ending

“When we received the first signal from the Coronagraph spacecraft after a month of silence, everyone was so relieved,” Damien recalls the exciting moment. “But we knew then that the work was not over yet – we still had no idea how a month without energy affected the spacecraft, or if we will be able to resume the mission at all.” 

Even for an event as rare as a spacecraft waking up from a ‘coma’, there is a procedure – a checklist of tasks that experienced operators need to go through before making any conclusions about the rest of the mission.  

“One by one, we have checked the status of each of the spacecraft’s subsystems. We have also been able to successfully perform the operations that proved critical in February,” says Damien. “Back then, it triggered the unfortunate chain reaction that led to loss of connection with the spacecraft, but after patching the root cause in the software, we were confident that this activity will cause no further issues.”  

“It has been inspiring and fascinating to witness the team’s energy and commitment in investigating the issue and recovering the system,” he adds. “For some of us, it has also been one of the most intense and exhilarating periods of our professional lives.”