Proba-3 is ESA’s first close formation flying mission. A pair of satellite will fly together on a coordinated basis, evaluating techniques for flying in tandem.
Quote from: bolun on 11/22/2010 08:06 pmProba-3 is ESA’s first close formation flying mission. A pair of satellite will fly together on a coordinated basis, evaluating techniques for flying in tandem.Umm .. what is PRISMA then ??
Isn't that a CNES mission as opposed to the ESA?
■ Project funded by Sweden (SNSB/ SSC) with several european partners (DLR, CNES, DTU)..The basic funding from the Swedish National Space Board was agreed in early 2005.
Missions of opportunityThe Science Programme Committee also agreed on participation in ESA’s Proba-3 technology mission, a pair of satellites that will fly in formation just 150 m apart, with one acting as a blocking disc in front of the Sun, allowing the other to observe the Sun’s faint outer atmosphere in more detail than ever before.
The European Space Agency’s Proba-3 mission, scheduled for launch in late 2020, is made possible by two satellites, one about the size of a refrigerator, and another slightly smaller spacecraft with the rough dimensions of a coffee table.The basic idea is to fly the smaller satellite directly between the sun and the field-of-view of cameras and instruments mounted on the bigger spacecraft, blocking the sunlight and revealing the glow of the Sun’s corona, or super-hot atmosphere, and filament-like eruptions called solar flares.
“One of the science goals of Proba-3 is to reproduce the conditions of a total solar eclipse as much as possible,” said Andrei Zhukov, principal investigator for Proba-3’s coronagraph at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, in response to questions from Astronomy Now.
“This problem can be minimised by extending the coronagraph length, the distance between the camera and the disc, as far as possible – but there are practical limits to coronagraph size,” Zhukov said in an ESA press release.“Instead, Proba-3’s coronagraph uses two craft: a camera satellite and a disc satellite,” Zhukov said. “They fly together so precisely that they operate like a single coronagraph, 150 metres (492 feet) long.”
“During two years of its nominal mission, Proba-3 will provide around 1,000 hours of coronal observations,” Zhukov wrote in an email to Astronomy Now. “This has to be compared with several minutes of duration of ‘natural’ eclipses during the same time.“Proba-3 will also be free from disturbances produced by the Earth’s atmosphere in all astronomical observations,” Zhukov wrote.
Proba-3 was scheduled for launch in 2019, but officials recently pushed back the mission’s liftoff to the fourth quarter of 2020.“The complexity in the development of the formation flying technology does not allow the launch in late 2019 as was planned earlier,” Zhukov said. “The project schedule is now consolidated, and the launch in the fourth quarter of 2020 is the new baseline. That does look feasible.”
The Proba-3 program, spearheaded by SENER Aeroespacial, the project's prime contractor for the European Space Agency (ESA), has accomplished several relevant milestones in the integration of the two satellites that will, for the first time, demonstrate a high-precision formation flight in space.<snip>The project has made an important step ahead with the start of the integration of the flight equipment, after the delivery of the platforms of the two satellites by Airbus Defence and Space. In this program, Airbus manufactures and integrates the platforms of both satellites.The first one, called Coronagraph Spacecraft (CSC), contains the main instrument (coronagraph), whereas the second satellite, called Occulter Spacecraft (CSO), carries an occulting disk that cover the sun's disk as seen from the other satellite. Airbus delivered the structure of both satellites already integrated with the propulsion system, harness and the thermal control system. This platform integration was carried out at the company's facilities in Madrid (Spain).The two satellites are now at the QinetiQ facility in Kruibeke (Belgium). For this program, QinetiQ is leading the activities to develop the avionics system, integrate all the electronic units within the platform, perform overall system verification and prepare the operations. The first flight equipment are already being installed on the OSC, and the integration of the CSC is expected to start early 2022, as this last unit was received in mid-December.<snip>Once the integration work is complete, an intensive testing campaign will begin prior to the launch planned for 2023.
The first one, called Coronagraph Spacecraft (CSC), contains the main instrument (coronagraph), whereas the second satellite, called Occulter Spacecraft (CSO), carries an occulting disk that cover the sun's disk as seen from the other satellite. Airbus delivered the structure of both satellites already integrated with the propulsion system, harness and the thermal control system. This platform integration was carried out at the company's facilities in Madrid (Spain).The two satellites are now at the QinetiQ facility in Kruibeke (Belgium). For this program, QinetiQ is leading the activities to develop the avionics system, integrate all the electronic units within the platform, perform overall system verification and prepare the operations. The first flight equipment are already being installed on the OSC, and the integration of the CSC is expected to start early 2022, as this last unit was received in mid-December.
The double spacecraft of ESA’s Proba-3 mission will become the most precisely controlled objects in space, maintaining a set distance from each other down to millimetre-level precision. An ESA cleanroom was turned into a hall of mirrors to test the laser-based measuring system that will maintain the pair in position for hours at a time.“Due to launch in 2024, Proba-3 is ESA’s precision formation flying mission,” comments Damien Galano, ESA’s Proba-3 project manager. “By maintaining their relative position against one another for up to six hours per orbit at a nominal 144 m apart, the ‘Occulter’ spacecraft will cast a shadow onto its ‘Coronagraph’ counterpart to form an artificial solar eclipse in space, so that the Sun’s faint outer atmosphere or corona can be studied freely.
The two spacecraft forming ESA’s Proba-3 mission for precise formation flying in orbit are now complete. All the instruments and sensors allowing them to manoeuvre to millimetre scale precision relative to one another have been integrated aboard, and the pair are fully wrapped in multi-layer insulation – ready to be tested in simulated space conditions.
Next month the spacecraft will be shipped to IABG in Germany for the start of a four-month environmental test campaign, simulating every aspect of the launch and space environments. Proba-3 is due to be flown by PSLV launcher from India next year.
https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Proba_Missions/Sun-watching_Proba-3_formation_flyers_tested_for_take-off [15 June 2023]QuoteESA’s pair of Sun-watching Proba-3 satellites have been placed in take-off configuration, one on top of the other, for testing in simulated launch and space conditions at IABG in Germany, ahead of their planned lift-off next year.QuoteProba-3 is due to be flown by a PSLV launcher from India next year.
ESA’s pair of Sun-watching Proba-3 satellites have been placed in take-off configuration, one on top of the other, for testing in simulated launch and space conditions at IABG in Germany, ahead of their planned lift-off next year.
Proba-3 is due to be flown by a PSLV launcher from India next year.
The two satellites are currently undergoing final integration in the premises of Redwire near Antwerp in Belgium.
Proba-3 is due for launch in September this year, by PSLV launcher from India.
Why is this going on a indian PSLV instead of a Vega?
