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\t\t\t\t\t\t22\/05\/2024<\/span> ESA has signed a contract with Airbus Defence & Space UK worth \u20ac340 million for the development of its Vigil satellite. From its unique vantage point in deep space, Vigil will greatly improve our early warning of severe\u00a0space weather events such as solar storms that may cause disruption on Earth.<\/p>\n Today, a declaration celebrating the concluding of the Vigil mission contract was signed by ESA, Airbus Defence & Space and the UK Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cVigil will be Europe\u2019s first 24\/7 operational space weather satellite, providing valuable time to protect critical infrastructure such as power grids or mobile communication networks on Earth as well as valuable satellites in Earth orbit, including the International Space Station ISS,\u201d says ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher. \u201cVigil will drastically improve both the lead time of space weather warnings as well as their level of detail from its unique vantage point in deep space.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cVigil is one of the most exciting and important space missions that will not only improve our understanding of the Sun\u2019s behaviour but crucially provide us with earlier warning and greater precision about potentially damaging solar weather,\u201d says Patrick Wood, Head of Space Systems UK, Airbus Defence and Space. \u201cSpace weather forecasters will be able to see what is coming from the Sun and provide more accurate alerts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSpace weather generates stunning phenomena like the recent displays of the \u2018Northern lights\u2019 over our skies – but it also presents a real risk to our way of life which is increasingly dependent on space and satellite services,\u201d says Andrew Griffith MP, Minister for Space at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. \u201cThe Vigil mission will transform our understanding of the impact of potentially dangerous solar events and I congratulate Airbus here in the UK on taking the lead in this important mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Vigil will continuously deliver near real-time data on potentially hazardous solar activity before it is detectable from Earth. Vigil\u2019s operational data from deep space will give operators of satellites, power grids and telecommunication systems time to take protective measures, and give human space explorers time to get to safety.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout warning, space weather storms can cause potentially serious health problems for astronauts and the economic impact of space weather can be extensive, especially as we come to rely more and more on critical technologies underlying navigation, banking, aviation, power grids and telecommunications,\u201d says Holger Krag, Head of the\u00a0Space Safety Programme at ESA.<\/p>\n \u201cDepending on the severity of an event, damage estimates range from multiple billions up to three trillion euro in case of an event of comparable magnitude as the biggest one we know, the 1859 Carrington Event.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Vigil will keep constant watch of the Sun from the\u00a0Lagrange point L5\u00a0in deep space. From there it can see the \u2018side\u2019 of the Sun and observe activity on the surface of the Sun days before it rotates into view from Earth.<\/p>\n \u201cVigil will continuously feed data into operational space weather services and further solar science at the same time. Vigil is also equipped with scientific instruments that will bring its own space weather services to a new level as they fuel further improvement of its forecasting abilities.\u201d explains Giuseppe Mandorlo, Vigil Project Manager at ESA.<\/p>\n \u201cData from Vigil can give us an unprecedented notice of up to four to five days for certain space weather effects traveling to Earth. And from its vantage point from the \u2018side\u2019, Vigil can also observe much more clearly the speed, direction and chance of impact of coronal mass ejections (CMEs).\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The data collected by Vigil will feed into the ESA Space Weather Service Network, maintained by ESA\u2019s Space Weather Office, part of the agency\u2019s ambitious Space Safety Programme.<\/p>\n \u201cThe need and appetite for space weather services is growing as the potential impact of space weather events becomes more critical with our increased dependence on satellites in space.\u201d says Alexi Glover, Space Weather Service Coordinator at ESA.<\/p>\n \u201cThe data from Vigil at L5 will be combined with available data from the Sun-Earth line, resulting in more detailed and precise forecasts for our end users across many industries. This enables them to respond as early as possible to protect Earth\u2019s infrastructure, satellites, inhabitants and astronauts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The spacecraft has been designed to thrive in the harsh environment of deep space, including the ability to withstand severe space weather itself, up to the size of the Carrington Event.<\/p>\n The spacecraft and its subsystems are uniquely designed to be able to process the instrument data for an optimal and efficient long-distance data transfer to Earth from deep space without interruption.<\/p>\n Airbus Defence & Space will build Vigil\u2019s space segment as its prime contractor, including the design, development, integration, test, launch campaign and in-space commissioning of the satellite platform and payloads. The spacecraft will be assembled at Airbus Defence and Space Ltd. in Stevenage, UK.<\/p>\n The payload suite consists of a mixture of imaging and in situ<\/i> sensing instruments provided by a mixture of European institutes and industrial partners. In addition to the European instruments, Vigil will bring two instruments from the USA, from NASA and NOAA, strengthening international collaboration.<\/p>\n The Vigil payload will consist of the following instruments:<\/p>\n Vigil is planned for launch in 2031.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nVigil:\u202fspace weather forecaster <\/h2>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nVigil spacecraft and instruments <\/h2>\n
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