The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-3 pair of satellites is in orbit, but the calibration process to allow one of the satellites to create an artificial solar eclipse for the other is not yet complete. Still, three weeks after launch, most people don’t know much about the mission’s progress.
When the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched in 2021, it was heavily publicized, with every stage of its deployment documented in detail on the NASA blog and picked up by the international press.
The situation is very different for the Proba-3 mission, launched on December 5, 2024, but this low level of media exposure may be appropriate for a mission designed to learn from the shadows.
The mission that will create an artificial solar eclipse
Total solar eclipses attract millions of tourists and are excellent opportunities for science education. But long before they became public events, they were essential for research. The existence of the solar corona was discovered during a total eclipse in 1724, and the General Theory of Relativity was confirmed during the eclipses of 1919 and 1922, writes IFL Science.
However, total eclipses are rare (occurring once every 18 months), last no more than 7 minutes, and depend on weather conditions. To remove these obstacles, ESA decided to create an artificial solar eclipse. Instead of using a giant disk to block the Sun, ESA’s solution involves two satellites positioned 150 meters apart. A 1.4 meter disk, carried by the first satellite (Occulter), will block sunlight for the other satellite (Coronagraph Spacecraft), which will study the shadow formed.
What will the Proba-3 satellites study?
Unlike traditional coronagraphic instruments, which use a single satellite, Proba-3 uses two satellites to eliminate the diffraction effect of light around the disk, which allows observation of an otherwise inaccessible region of the solar corona. This is the “transition zone” between the Sun and the corona, the key to understanding such fundamental mysteries as:
Why is the solar corona much hotter than the surface of the Sun? Although there are theories, they are not complete. Extended observations of the corona could provide definitive answers.
What processes accelerate the solar wind to huge speeds (up to 2 million km/h)? Magnetism is suspected to play a role, but the details remain unknown.
What forces drive coronal mass ejections (CMEs)? These phenomena may pose a threat to modern technology, but we do not fully understand why some solar flares trigger CMEs and others do not.
How much does the energy emitted by the Sun vary? The Proba-3 satellites, being located further from Earth than other instruments, could provide more accurate measurements.
How do captured electrons behave in the Van Allen belts? Trial Mission-3 it will pass through these belts twice per orbit, providing valuable data outside of the periods when it studies the Sun.
When will this artificial solar eclipse be created?
Although the Proba-3 mission was successfully launched, the two satellites will not separate until early 2025. In the first months, the ESA team will test and calibrate the mission’s systems, a process that will take at least 3-4 months. Meanwhile, ESA published two images which confirms that the orientation systems (startrackers) are working correctly.
Although it will be years before we get it answers to the big questionsthe Proba-3 mission paves the way for revolutionary explorations of the solar corona and the space dynamics around Earth.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
