European Proba-3 Solar Science Mission: Liftoff on ISRO PSLV-XL Rocket
The European Space Agency’s Proba-3 Mission lifted off on an ISRO PSLV-XL rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India, on Thursday, December 5, 202, at 11:34 CET (10:34 GMT, 16:04 local time). The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) placed both satellites (currently attached) into their designated orbit.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has successfully launched a pair of satellites, called Proba-3, that will maintain a fixed configuration as a ‘large rigid structure’ in a highly elliptical orbit to form an approximately 150-m long solar coronagraph to study the Sun’s faint corona closer than ever before. Europe’s Proba-3 (Project for Onboard Anatomy) consists of two satellites—Coronagraph (310kg) and Occulter (240 kg). The pair must maintain a precise formation down to "a single millimeter" to study the corona, the sun’s outer atmosphere.
“We are honoured that ESA entrusted NewSpace India Limited, NSIL, with its Proba-3 mission, and we are extremely satisfied to have delivered the satellites precisely into their designated orbit,” remarked Radhakrishnan Durairaj, Chairman and Managing Director of NSIL. “This is an extremely ambitious mission, with an ambitious orbit to go with it: the satellites have been placed into a highly elliptical orbit which extends more than 60,500 km from the surface of Earth. Reaching this orbit required the most powerful PSLV-XL variant of our launcher, equipped with additional propellant in its six solid rocket boosters.”
Orbit: High Earth orbit, 19.7 hours orbital period, 60 530 km apogee, 600 km perigee
Instrument: External coronagraph
Ground station: Mission antenna will be at Santa Maria des Azores, and ground station at Redu, Belgium
Release Date: Dec. 5, 2024
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