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Will Proba-3 phone home? European solar-eclipse satellite goes dark
- Europe’s Proba-3 mission lost orientation on one spacecraft amid an anomaly, affecting its solar eclipse formation.
- Coronagraph and Occulter must fly in millimeter-accurate formation about 150 meters apart to image the sun’s corona.
- The anomaly caused one spacecraft to lose attitude, draining batteries and triggering a survival mode.
- ESA mission teams are investigating the root cause and possible steps to safely steer the Occulter closer to the Coronagraph.
- ESA will provide updates as new information becomes available as the investigation proceeds.
- Proba-3 is a two-satellite mission launched to study the sun’s outer atmosphere from Earth orbit.
- The incident occurred around the weekend of February 14, prompting efforts to recover contact.
- The mission’s objective is to enable precise solar eclipse observations using formation-flying satellites.
- ESA published diagrams showing the satellites’ formation and orbit to illustrate the mission design.
- Current updates emphasize ongoing recovery efforts and reestablishing communication with the two spacecraft.
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