ISRO Set to Launch ESA’s Proba-3 Mission on December 4 Aboard PSLV-XL Rocket
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New Delhi, Nov 28 (NationPress) The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has officially declared that it will be launching the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-3 mission to meticulously observe the Sun on December 4.
Proba-3 aims to closely examine the Sun’s faint corona near the solar edge and will be sent into space using the PSLV-XL rocket, operated by ISRO, at 4:08 PM from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
“The PSLV-C59/PROBA-03 Mission is scheduled for launch on December 4, 2024, at 16:08 IST from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota!” ISRO announced in a post on X.
The PSLV-XL rocket will transport two satellites that will collaboratively form a 144-meter-long instrument referred to as a solar coronagraph. This instrument is designed to assist scientists in studying the Sun's corona, which is often obscured by the brightness of the solar disk.
These twin satellites will be placed into a highly elliptical orbit, enabling them to reach a distance of 60,000 km from Earth and descend as low as 600 km during their orbits.
The elevated orbit will allow the satellites to engage in formation flying for approximately six hours at peak altitude, where the influence of Earth's gravity is diminished, thereby reducing propellant needs and facilitating optimal positioning control.
This mission, touted as the world's first precision formation flying mission, will provide scientists with the opportunity to study the Sun's elusive corona with unmatched proximity and clarity, as per ESA.
“A pair of satellites will fly in unison, maintaining a consistent configuration, as though they were a single large rigid structure in space, to validate formation flying and rendezvous technologies,” states ESA.
ESA’s Proba-3 will mark the inaugural mission launched from India since the Proba-1 mission back in 2001, highlighting the strengthening collaboration in space.
The Proba-3 satellites were transported to the Chennai airport from Liege, Belgium, and subsequently trucked to the spaceport in Sriharikota. ESA teams, currently at the Indian spaceport, will collaborate with ISRO scientists to prepare the satellites for launch.
