\n\n \n Credit: European Space Agency \n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Proba-3 is ESA’s\u2014and the world’s\u2014first precision formation flying mission. A pair of satellites will fly together relative to the sun so that one casts a precisely-controlled shadow onto the other, to create a prolonged solar eclipse in orbit.<\/p>\n
In the process, the mission will open up the sun’s faint surrounding coronal atmosphere for sustained study. Normally, this corona is rendered invisible by the brilliant face of the sun, like a firefly next to a bonfire.<\/p>\n
Due for launch together this autumn, the two Proba-3 satellites will fly 144-m apart for up to six hours at a time to create these eclipses. Beside its scientific interest, this experiment will be a perfect method to demonstrate the precise positioning of the two platforms. It will be enabled using a novel combination of guidance technologies. In this video, the Proba-3 team details the mission concept.<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n