ISRO set to launch ESA’s Proba-3 on December 4: A mission to unlock sun’s secrets

Proba-3, designed to study the Sun's faint corona near the solar rim, is set to launch aboard the PSLV-XL rocket operated by ISRO. The mission will lift off at 4:08 PM IST on December 4, 2024, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Announcing the launch, ISRO shared on X, “The PSLV-C59/PROBA-03 Mission is set to take flight on 4th December 2024, 16:08 IST from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota!”

New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday announced that it will launch the European Space Agency (ESA) Proba-3 to observe the Sun with great precision on December 4.

Proba-3, which aims to study the Sun’s faint corona closer to the solar rim, will be launched on the PSLV-XL rocket — operated by the ISRO — at 4.08 pm from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

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“The PSLV-C59/PROBA-03 Mission is set to take flight on 4th December 2024, 16:08 IST from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota!” ISRO shared in a post on X.

The PSLV-XL rocket will carry two satellites that will work together to create a 144-metre-long instrument known as a solar coronagraph. This will help scientists to study the Sun’s corona which is difficult to observe due to the brightness of the solar disk.

The twin satellites will be carried into a highly elliptical orbit, allowing the pair to reach 60,000 km from Earth and descend as close as 600 km during each orbit.

The high-altitude orbit will help the satellites perform formation flying for about six hours at peak altitude, where Earth’s gravitational influence is reduced, lowering propellant consumption and allowing for optimal positioning control.

The ‘world’s first precision formation flying mission’ will enable scientists to study the Sun’s elusive corona with unprecedented proximity and detail, said the ESA.

“A pair of satellites will fly together, maintaining a fixed configuration as if they were a single large rigid structure in space, to prove formation flying and rendezvous technologies,” states ESA.

ESA’s Proba-3 will be the first mission to launch from India since the Proba-1 mission in 2001, underscoring deepening space collaboration.

The Proba-3 satellites were flown to the Chennai airport from Liege in Belgium, following which they were trucked to the spaceport at Sriharikota. The ESA teams, present at the Indian spaceport, will now along with ISRO scientists prepare the satellite for its launch.