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\nESA\u2019s double-satellite Proba-3 mission will be flying where no previous member of the Proba minisatellite family has gone before \u2013 up to 60 000 km away, a seventh of the way to the Moon.\n<\/p>\n
\nSet for launch in 2019, the two satellites will be launched together into a highly elliptical or elongated orbit, ranging from an perigee (low point) of 600 km up to an apogee (high point) of 60 000 km.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThis long 19.7 hour orbit will allow us to maintain sustained contact with the two satellites using a single ground station,\u201d explains Agnes Mestreau-Garreau, Proba-3<\/a> project manager.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAnd around the high point of the orbit we will be able to spend around six hours on solar observation or devoted to experimental formation flying manoeuvres.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThe latest member of ESA\u2019s experimental Proba minisatellite family, Proba-3\u2019s paired satellites will manoeuvre relative to each other with millimetre and fraction-of-a-degree precision, intended to serve as the virtual equivalent of a giant structure in space and so open up a whole new way of running space missions<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nAs has become traditional with Proba missions, the success of Proba-3\u2019s technology will be proven through acquiring high-quality scientific data. In this case, the smaller \u2018occulter\u2019 satellite will blot out the Sun\u2019s fiery disc as viewed by the larger \u2018coronagraph\u2019 satellite, revealing mysterious regions of our parent star\u2019s ghostly \u2018corona\u2019, or outer atmosphere.\n<\/p>\n \nWhen in Sun-observing mode, the two satellites will maintain formation exactly 150 m apart, lined up with the Sun so the occulter casts a shadow across the face of the coronagraph, blocking out solar glare to come closer to the Sun\u2019s fiery surface than ever before, other than during frustratingly brief terrestrial solar eclipses.\n<\/p>\n \nThe challenge is in keeping the satellites safely controlled and correctly positioned relative to each other. This will be accomplished using various new technologies, including bespoke formation-flying software, relative GPS information, intersatellite radio links, startrackers, and optical visual sensors and optical metrologies for close-up manoeuvring.\n<\/p>\n \nFifteen ESA Member States are participating in the Proba-3 consortium, with SENER in Spain as prime contractor for the satellite platforms and Centre Spatial de Li\u00e8ge in Belgium as prime contractor for the coronagraph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \nESA’s double-satellite Proba-3 mission will be flying where no previous member of the Proba minisatellite family has gone before – up to 60 000 km away, a seventh of the way to the Moon.\n<\/p>\n \nSet for launch in 2019, the two satellites will be launched together into a highly elliptical or elongated orbit, ranging from an perigee (low point) of 600 km up to an apogee (high point) of 60 000 km.\n<\/p>\n \n“This long 19.7 hour orbit will allow us to maintain sustained contact with the two satellites using a single ground station,” explains Agnes Mestreau-Garreau, Proba-3<\/a> project manager.\n<\/p>\n \n“And around the high point of the orbit we will be able to spend around six hours on solar observation or devoted to experimental formation flying manoeuvres.”\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n