ISRO Pushes Back ESA Proba-3 Launch to Thursday
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New Delhi, Dec 4 (NationPress) The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has revised the schedule for its European Space Agency (ESA) Proba-3 Sun observation mission, now set for Thursday.
The launch has been delayed due to an unidentified anomaly that was detected after the countdown proceeded without issues.
“Due to an anomaly detected in PROBA-3 spacecraft PSLV-C59/PROBA-3 launch rescheduled to tomorrow,” ISRO announced via social media platform X.
The PSLV-XL rocket was initially slated to lift off the ESA Proba-3 mission on Wednesday. The mission will now launch on Thursday at 4:12 PM from the First Launch Pad (FLP) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR), Sriharikota, as stated by the agency.
ESA’s Proba-3 will mark the first mission to be launched from India since the Proba-1 mission in 2001, highlighting the growing collaboration in space exploration.
The Proba-3 satellites were transported to Chennai airport from Liege, Belgium, and subsequently transported by truck to the spaceport in Sriharikota.
The PSLV-C59 vehicle will deploy the Proba-3 spacecraft into a highly elliptical orbit as a dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL). This launch also emphasizes India’s expanding role in global space endeavors.
“This mission, powered by NSIL with ISRO’s engineering excellence, demonstrates the strength of international collaboration and represents a proud milestone in India’s space journey and a shining example of global partnerships,” ISRO remarked.
Proba-3 is designed to investigate the Sun’s faint corona near the solar rim. It serves as an in-orbit demonstration (IOD) mission of the ESA, aiming to exhibit precise formation flying.
It consists of two spacecraft — the Coronagraph Spacecraft (CSC) and the Occulter Spacecraft (OSC) — which will be launched together in a stacked configuration aboard the PSLV-XL rocket, as noted by ISRO. This will be the 61st flight of the PSLV and the 26th using the PSLV-XL configuration.
The spacecraft will form a 144-metre-long instrument known as a solar coronagraph, allowing scientists to study the Sun's corona, which is challenging to observe due to the brightness of the solar disk.
