Tag Archives: Proba3

Proba-3: Stunning Image Captures the First Artificial Solar Eclipse

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The sun’s corona appears as it would to the human eye during a solar eclipse, but through a green filter.

ESA/proba-3/aspiics

The synchronized movement of the twin satellites has produced the first artificial solar eclipse in space, revealing the burnt corona of the sun in remarkable detail.

The ProBA-3 mission, launched last December, is operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) and consists of two satellites positioned 150 meters apart.

One of the satellites, known as Occulter, features 1.4-meter wide discs made from carbon fiber and plastic, effectively blocking sunlight coming from the second satellite, Coronagraph. The alignment accuracy of the satellites is within one millimeter for capturing images.

In March, the satellites autonomously synchronized for extended periods, providing lengthy exposures of the solar eclipse. ESA scientists can stitch these exposures together to generate a comprehensive image of the solar corona, the outermost layer of the sun’s atmosphere.

“When I first viewed these images, it was unbelievable,” says Damien Galano from ESA. “But shortly after, it transformed into an incredible sense of achievement and pride for all our hard work.”

The image above captures the visible light of the corona, resembling how it would appear to the human eye but through a green filter.

This image illustrates the light emitted from electron-depleted iron in the most heated sections of the corona.

ESA/proba-3/aspiics

The Proba-3 satellite camera also captures light frequencies linked to specific elements within the solar corona, exemplified by the dark green image above.

“We can clearly see the substantial achievements made during COVID,” remarks Galano.

The sun’s corona shown in polarized white light, artificially tinted to look violet.

ESA/proba-3/aspiics

The image above illustrates the sun’s corona, artificially colored purple in polarized white light. This technique allows scientists to distinguish the polarized light from the hot corona from that scattered by interplanetary dust.

These images were primarily captured to verify the ProBA-3 mission’s functionality. When fully operational, they will take pictures of the artificial food every 19.6 hours.

This will enhance our comprehension of solar corona physics, and according to Galano, it will also improve understanding of solar winds and coronal mass ejections that influence space weather.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Proba-3: Twin spacecraft launched to create a simulated solar eclipse

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Two Proba-3 spacecraft work together to create an artificial solar eclipse

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The European Space Agency (ESA) aims to create an artificial solar eclipse in space with its upcoming Proba-3 mission, which will help study the Sun and demonstrate extremely precise formation flight down to just a millimeter. It turns out.

Scheduled to launch on December 4 on an Indian PSLV-XL rocket, the mission will consist of two spacecraft. After launch, they will be placed into a highly elliptical orbit around the Earth, bringing them about 600 kilometers (600 kilometers) close to Earth, but at a distance of about 60,000 kilometers (60,000 kilometers) from the Earth.

One of the spacecraft, called Occulter, features a 1.4-meter-wide disc made of carbon fiber and plastic. The other spacecraft will fly about 150 meters behind the first spacecraft and point its camera there. From this vantage point, the occulter's disk blocks the surface of the Sun, much like the Moon appears to cover the Sun during a total solar eclipse. This will allow imaging probes to observe the solar corona, or the sun's atmosphere, in more detail than ever before.

“This will be the closest we've ever seen the corona to the Sun in visible light,” said Damien Galano, ESA's Proba-3 mission manager. “This could provide concrete information about the temperature of the corona, the formation of the solar wind, and how the corona expands into space.”

Proba-3 accomplishes this feat by flying with incredible precision. Both spacecraft are equipped with sensors to track their position in space, and the Occulter uses 12 nitrogen thrusters to autonomously maintain its position with its partner with millimeter accuracy. The thrusters can deliver just 10 millinewtons of thrust, which is 1/50th the force of human breathing.

To limit the destabilizing effects of Earth's gravity, the artificial eclipse will last six hours when the spacecraft is furthest from Earth. More than 1,000 solar eclipses are planned during the two-year mission. Galano said this is the first time since experiments with artificial solar eclipses in space. 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

The experience gained from the Proba-3 mission could also be applied to things like refueling spacecraft and developing large telescopes in space. “Until now, we've only been able to achieve accuracy of a centimeter or better,” said Steve Buckley, Proba-3 lead engineer at Onsemi, a US company that developed some of the sensors for the mission. “This is 10 times better.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com