ISRO's PSLV-XL Proba-3 Launch: Europe's Solar Mission Lift-Off Today

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is preparing to launch the European Space Agency's (ESA) Proba-3 mission on Wednesday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

This groundbreaking mission aims to study the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, using a unique formation-flying technique with two satellites: the Coronagraph and the Occulter.

Proba-3 will be launched aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) at 4:08 PM IST.

The mission marks a significant milestone in international collaboration, demonstrating ISRO's expanding capabilities in space technology.

Once launched, the two satellites will enter a highly elliptical orbit, with an apogee of around 60,530 kilometers and a perigee of about 600 kilometers from Earth. This orbit will allow them to maintain a precise distance of 150 meters apart, flying in tandem as one unit.

The Occulter satellite is equipped with a 1.4-meter occulting disc designed to block out the Sun's bright disk, creating an artificial solar eclipse. Within this shadow, the Coronagraph satellite will use its telescope to capture unprecedented details of the solar corona.

This setup mimics natural solar eclipses, but with a major advantage: the ability to observe for up to six hours during each orbit, far longer than the few minutes of observation available during a natural eclipse.

Proba-3's primary goal is to enhance our understanding of solar dynamics and space weather phenomena, such as solar storms and coronal mass ejections, which can disrupt communication systems and power grids on Earth.

Additionally, the mission will validate advanced formation-flying technologies, laying the groundwork for future scientific missions in space.

By enabling continuous observation of the corona, Proba-3 aims to solve key mysteries, including why the corona is much hotter than the Sun's surface and how solar wind is accelerated.