ASPACE-Q
The Astrophysics, Space Exploration and Quantum Computing Group
ASPACE-Q
The Astrophysics, Space Exploration and Quantum Computing Group
The European Space Agency (ESA), along with researchers and engineers from the 14 member states of the PROBA-3 Space Mission consortium, are preparing to receive the most beautiful Christmas gift: the launch of the mission, scheduled for December of this year. Romania is one of the 14 states and has contributed to both the development of hardware components (through IMT and COMOTI) and scientific contributions through AIRA who also developed the catalog tools and ISS who contributed in the early stages of the mission).
PROBA-3 consists of two satellites carrying three instruments for observing the Sun: ASPIICS (the main instrument for observing the solar corona, managed by the Royal Observatory of Belgium), DARA (an instrument measuring the total solar energy, essential for Earth's climate studies, developed by the Physical Meteorological Observatory in Switzerland), and the 3D Energetic Electron Spectrometer, developed by the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, an important tool for space weather studies.
The satellites will fly in formation with millimetre precision, unprecedented for space vehicles.
The PROBA-3 satellites are tasked with creating an artificial solar eclipse in space, which will be repeated approximately 50 times a year and will last up to 6 hours during each rotation of the formation around the Earth. This will enable the observation of regions of the Sun that have not been sufficiently explored by researchers until now. Specialised solar observation instruments, such as the state-of-the-art ASPIICS coronagraph, will then be used to study phenomena occurring in the solar corona, such as coronal mass ejections, which are eruptions and explosions of plasma from the Sun. Observing these is important to better understand why the solar corona is so hot (around 1 million degrees Celsius), much hotter than the surface of the Sun (5,500 degrees Celsius). The temperature of the solar corona remains a mystery for researchers.
Another important phenomenon to study is the solar wind, the constant stream of charged particles emitted by the Sun, which dictates the space weather near Earth and can affect technology and communications on Earth.
Last but not least, this mission has led to significant technological advancements for space missions studying the Sun and beyond, using a new generation of sensors, advanced hardware components, and improved onboard software.
The PROBA-3 mission, which will simulate solar eclipses, is scheduled to leave Europe on November 1st, heading to its launch site in India. The two satellites will be transported to ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Centre, located near Chennai.
For more information you can access the official page of the mission and the official announcement from ESA.
Stay tuned for updates on this exciting December launch!
