Latest news with #Proba-3
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
2 spacecraft flew exactly in line to imitate a solar eclipse, capture a stunning image and test new tech
During a solar eclipse, astronomers who study heliophysics are able to study the Sun's corona – its outer atmosphere – in ways they are unable to do at any other time. The brightest part of the Sun is so bright that it blocks the faint light from the corona, so it is invisible to most of the instruments astronomers use. The exception is when the Moon blocks the Sun, casting a shadow on the Earth during an eclipse. But as an astronomer, I know eclipses are rare, they last only a few minutes, and they are visible only on narrow paths across the Earth. So, researchers have to work hard to get their equipment to the right place to capture these short, infrequent events. In their quest to learn more about the Sun, scientists at the European Space Agency have built and launched a new probe designed specifically to create artificial eclipses. Meet Proba-3 This probe, called Proba-3, works just like a real solar eclipse. One spacecraft, which is roughly circular when viewed from the front, orbits closer to the Sun, and its job is to block the bright parts of the Sun, acting as the Moon would in a real eclipse. It casts a shadow on a second probe that has a camera capable of photographing the resulting artificial eclipse. Having two separate spacecraft flying independently but in such a way that one casts a shadow on the other is a challenging task. But future missions depend on scientists figuring out how to make this precision choreography technology work, and so Proba-3 is a test. This technology is helping to pave the way for future missions that could include satellites that dock with and deorbit dead satellites or powerful telescopes with instruments located far from their main mirrors. The side benefit is that researchers get to practice by taking important scientific photos of the Sun's corona, allowing them to learn more about the Sun at the same time. An immense challenge The two satellites launched in 2024 and entered orbits that approach Earth as close as 372 miles (600 kilometers) – that's about 50% farther from Earth than the International Space Station – and reach more than 37,282 miles (60,000 km) at their most distant point, about one-sixth of the way to the Moon. During this orbit, the satellites move at speeds between 5,400 miles per hour (8,690 kilometers per hour) and 79,200 mph (127,460 kph). At their slowest, they're still moving fast enough to go from New York City to Philadelphia in one minute. While flying at that speed, they can control themselves automatically, without a human guiding them, and fly 492 feet (150 meters) apart – a separation that is longer than the length of a typical football stadium – while still keeping their locations aligned to about one millimeter. They needed to maintain that precise flying pattern for hours in order to take a picture of the Sun's corona, and they did it in June 2025. The Proba-3 mission is also studying space weather by observing high-energy particles that the Sun ejects out into space, sometimes in the direction of the Earth. Space weather causes the aurora, also known as the northern lights, on Earth. While the aurora is beautiful, solar storms can also harm Earth-orbiting satellites. The hope is that Proba-3 will help scientists continue learning about the Sun and better predict dangerous space weather events in time to protect sensitive satellites. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Christopher Palma, Penn State Read more: What would a solar eclipse look like from the Moon? An astronomer answers that and other total eclipse questions Solar eclipses result from a fantastic celestial coincidence of scale and distance Total eclipse, partial failure: Scientific expeditions don't always go as planned Christopher Palma does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Forbes
25-07-2025
- Science
- Forbes
NASA Just Snapped A Rare Solar Eclipse From Space — See The Photos
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has captured the moon eclipsing the sun in an event only observable from its position in space. At the height of the event on Friday, July 25, around 62% of the sun was covered by the moon. The SDO, which is solar-powered, coped with the drop in sunlight by having its batteries fully charged before the eclipse occurred. NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory captured a rare solar eclipse from Earth orbit on July 25, 2025. NASA SDO The SDO sees several eclipses — or lunar transits — each year. This one was a deep partial eclipse, which lasted about 35 minutes. The SDO studies the sun's atmosphere in various wavelengths of light. The spacecraft is in a geosynchronous orbit around Earth, matching Earth's rotation, and positioned 22,238 miles (35,789 kilometers) above a ground station in White Sands, New Mexico. SDO has an almost constant but slightly different view of the sun than we do from Earth's surface, but there are times when its orbit passes behind the Earth, causing an eclipse from its point of view. On July 25, SDO passed passed behind both the moon and the Earth on the same day, accotSDO. The next solar eclipse visible from Earth will be a partial solar eclipse on Sept. 21, when up to 80% of the sun will be blocked by the moon as seen from New Zealand, Tasmania in Australia, the Indian Ocean, and Antarctica. Observers will need to wear solar eclipse glasses at all times, and all cameras and telescopes will need solar filters. The next total solar eclipse visible from Earth will occur on Aug. 12, 2026, for parts of Greenland, western Iceland, and northern Spain. The maximum totality will be 2 minutes and 18 seconds off Iceland. NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory captured a rare solar eclipse from Earth orbit on July 25, 2025. NASA SDO The European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission — the world's first precision formation flying mission — last month captured the first images of an artificial total solar eclipse from space. Proba-3 is a pair of satellites that fly in formation with millimeter precision, with one blocking the sun with an occulter disk and casting a shadow on a telescope on the satellite behind it. That allows it to image the sun's corona — the sun's outer, hotter but more tenuous atmosphere — which is only visible during a total solar eclipse. Although SDO can also see the corona, Proba-3 can see much farther into it, revealing what's going on close to the Sun's photosphere. That's important because it's there that the solar wind, solar flares and coronal mass ejections are produced. Proba-3 can produce a total solar eclipse lasting six hours once every 19.6-hour orbit. The Sun's inner corona appears greenish in this image taken on 23 May 2025 by the ASPIICS ... More coronagraph aboard Proba-3, ESA's formation-flying mission capable of creating artificial total solar eclipses in orbit. This image, captured in the visible light spectrum, shows the solar corona similarly to how a human eye would see it during an eclipse through a green filter. The hair-like structures were revealed using a specialised image processing algorithm. ESA/Proba-3/ASPIICS/WOW algorithm Exactly 56 years ago this week, the crew of NASA's Apollo 11 mission — the first to put astronauts on the moon — saw a total solar eclipse. On Jul. 19, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins photographed a total solar eclipse on their way to the moon. Aldrin had seen a total solar eclipse from space before, on Nov. 11, 1966, during the Gemini 12 mission with Jim Lovell. The crew of Apollo 12 — Pete Conrad, Alan Bean and Dick Gordon — also saw a total solar eclipse from space on Nov. 24, 1969. AS11-42-6179 (19 July 1969) —- This photograph of the solar corona was taken from the Apollo 11 ... More spacecraft during trans-lunar coast and prior to lunar orbit insertion. NASA When Is The Next Total Solar Eclipse In North America? The next total solar eclipse in the contiguous U.S. will occur on Aug. 22, 2044. The path of totality will begin in Greenland, travel through Canada's Northwest Territories (with maximum totality close to Great Bear Lake, at 2 minutes and 4 seconds) and finish with an eclipsed sunset from Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota. Another total solar eclipse will occur across the U.S. a lunar year later, on Aug 10, 2045. Forbes In Photos: First Ever 'Fake' Total Solar Eclipse Created In Space By Jamie Carter Forbes NASA Spacecraft 'Touches Sun' For Final Time In Defining Moment For Humankind By Jamie Carter Forbes NASA Urges Public To Leave The City As Milky Way Appears — 15 Places To Go By Jamie Carter
Time of India
23-06-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Did you Know
artificial solar eclipses European Space Agency A pair of European satellites have created the firstby flying in precise and fancy formation, providing hours of on-demand totality for scientists. The(ESA) unveiled the images at the Paris Air Show, showcasing a breakthrough in space observation. Launched late last year, the two satellites have been simulating solar eclipses since March by flying just 492 feet apart in orbit. One satellite blocks the sun like the moon does during a natural eclipse, while the other captures images of the corona — the sun's outer as Proba-3, the $210 million mission has already produced 10 successful eclipses during its test phase. The longest lasted five hours. Scientists hope to achieve six hours of totality per eclipse when observations begin in spacecraft, each under five feet in size, maintain millimetre-level alignment using GPS, lasers, and star trackers. Unlike previous missions, Proba-3's two-satellite setup allows clearer views of the inner corona. 'We almost couldn't believe our eyes,' said lead scientist Andrei Zhukov. ESA expects up to 200 eclipses over two years, offering more than 1,000 hours of totality.
Indian Express
19-06-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
How scientists created an ‘artificial' total solar eclipse to unlock the Sun's secrets
The sun's corona (or outer atmosphere) has proved a difficult subject for solar scientists on Earth to study, appearing only in a total solar eclipse. This phenomenon, occurring once in around 18 months, was their only opportunity to observe parts of the corona. However, with Proba-3's recent mission, research can advance at a much quicker pace. The European Space Agency (ESA) on June 16, announced that the Proba-3 mission had created an 'artificial total solar eclipse' in orbit. This was achieved as the mission's two spacecraft – the Coronagraph and the Occulter – flew in formation 150 metres apart, and aligned so that the Occulter's disc covered the sun's disc, casting a shadow onto the Coronagraph's optical instrument. 'I was absolutely thrilled to see the images, especially since we got them on the first try,' Andrei Zhukov, principal investigator for ASPIICS at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, said in a statement. The mission was launched in December 2024. It involved sending both satellites into the solar orbit. In March this year, both spacecraft flew 150 metres apart, in formation up to to a millimetre's precision, without control from the Earth for several hours. When creating the artificial solar eclipse, the satellites aligned in formation based on the position of the Sun. Then, Occulter's 1.4-metre large disc would be used to block the sun's disc. This would cast a shadow of approximately 8 centimetre, across the Coronagraph's optical instruments, positioned behind the Occulter. Thanks to the precision, these instruments were able to provide the images of the corona. 'Our 'artificial eclipse' images are comparable with those taken during a natural eclipse. The difference is that we can create our eclipse once every 19.6-hour orbit, while total solar eclipses only occur naturally around once, very rarely twice a year. On top of that, natural total eclipses only last a few minutes, while Proba-3 can hold its artificial eclipse for up to 6 hours,' Zhukov explained. This mission could prove crucial for solar scientists, with previously unseen angles of the elusive corona becoming available for study. One benefit could be the study of solar wind, described by the ESA as 'the continuous flow of matter from the Sun into outer space.' Driven by the corona, these winds usually consist of charged particles, and constantly rain down upon the Earth as well. However, this can be interrupted by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), or solar storms. This subsequently affects space weather, which in turn can affect Earth's power grids, communication systems, and satellite operations. With the data from the Proba-3 mission and any subsequent missions focused on corona imaging, solar scientists can be better prepared for the potential threat of a severe solar storm – which NASA describes as 'a sudden explosion of particles, energy, magnetic fields, and material blasted into the solar system by the Sun'. Another question that Proba-3 would be able to solve is how the corona, which extends millions of miles across space, but still reaches temperatures above a million degrees Celsius, burns much hotter than the surface. To understand the reasoning, Proba-3 is attempting to study the corona at a minimal distance from the sun's surface. Due to the quality of the equipment, fewer stray rays would hit the detector, more details would be captured, and fainter features would be detected as compared to a traditional coronagraph. 'Current coronagraphs are no match for Proba-3, which will observe the Sun's corona down almost to the edge of the solar surface. So far, this was only possible during natural solar eclipses,' Jorge Amaya, Space Weather Modelling Coordinator at ESA, said in the ESA release. Alongside the key data provided by Proba-3, its precision flying in formation also paved the way for future missions, such as the ESA's Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), scheduled to launch in 2035. This mission will contain three identical spacecraft, arranged in an equilateral triangle formation, trailing behind the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. The mission is scheduled to last two years, aiming to capture images of the corona for further study, and then re-enter the Earth's atmosphere five years post-launch, as per the ESA. (This article has been curated by Purv Ashar, who is an intern with The Indian Express)
Business Wire
19-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Redwire Successfully Completes Integration of Hammerhead Spacecraft for Upcoming European Mission
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW), a leader in space infrastructure for the next generation space economy, announced today that is has completed the integration of a Hammerhead spacecraft platform for an upcoming European Space Agency (ESA) mission at its facility in Kruibeke, Belgium. The Hammerhead spacecraft will support ESA's Atmospheric Limb Tracker for Investigation of the Upcoming Stratosphere (ALTIUS) mission. Redwire is the prime contractor for ALTIUS. This milestone marks the completion of Hammerhead spacecraft platform integration at Redwire's state-of-the-art satellite processing facility in Belgium. Following platform integration, the satellite will undergo platform system testing and payload integration, marking the completion of the full satellite. Hammerhead is Redwire's highly versatile low Earth orbit spacecraft platform, offering exceptional performance and a track record of outstanding reliability with 50 years of in-orbit performance without spacecraft failure. The ALTIUS satellite also features Redwire's third-generation Advanced Data and Power Management System (ADPMS-3) avionics. 'Redwire's Belgium facility has emerged as a world-class satellite processing facility with a proven track record of building satellites for groundbreaking multinational missions, including ESA's Proba-3 mission,' said Redwire President of Civil and International Space, Mike Gold. 'We are incredibly proud of the team's accomplishment in achieving this milestone, and we look forward to continuing to build on this track record of efficiency and on-time deliveries for ESA in support of a bold new era of European space exploration and development.' Redwire's facility in Belgium has more than 40 years of spaceflight heritage developing spacecraft platforms and success delivering innovative technology for game-changing ESA programs. Most notably, every spacecraft used for ESA's Proba missions (Proba-1, Proba-2, Proba-V, and Proba-3) have been developed and integrated at Redwire's Belgium facility. Leveraging its legacy of innovation and excellence, Redwire continues to manufacture spacecraft for important ESA programs, including Skimsat, a technology demonstrator for a small satellite platform designed to operate in very low Earth orbit. Disclaimer: The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency. About Redwire Redwire Corporation (NYSE:RDW) is an integrated aerospace and defense company focused on advanced technologies. We are building the future of aerospace infrastructure, autonomous systems and multi-domain operations leveraging digital engineering and AI automation. Redwire's approximately 1,300 employees located throughout the United States and Europe are committed to delivering innovative space and airborne platforms transforming the future of multi-domain operations. For more information, please visit
