The Proba-3 mission’s Coronagraph and Occulter spacecraft fly approximately 150 metres apart during observations to create and observe an artificial solar eclipse.
The Proba-3 spacecraft were approximately 4 kilometres apart when the Coronagraph spacecraft anomaly occurred.
The Proba-3 mission’s Coronagraph and Occulter spacecraft were launched aboard an ISRO PSLV-XL rocket in December 2024.
The European Space Agency regained contact with the Coronagraph spacecraft of its Proba-3 mission after more than a month of silence.
Proba-3 consists of two satellites that fly in precise formation 150 meters apart.
Sener leads the Proba-3 mission for the European Space Agency.
Proba-3 obtained its first images of the inner corona in May 2025 with exceptional quality.
Proba-3 is designed to create artificial total solar eclipses in space lasting up to six hours.
The European Space Agency’s Villafranca del Castillo ground station near Madrid regained contact with the Coronagraph spacecraft in the Proba-3 mission after more than a month of lost communication.
The Proba-3 mission began on 14 February 2025 when a chain failure caused Coronagraph to lose its orientation and exhaust its batteries.
The first Proba-3 images revealed solar prominences.
Proba-3 was launched in December 2024.
Redwire’s Belgium facility designed, developed, or integrated every spacecraft used for ESA’s Proba-1, Proba-2, Proba-V, and Proba-3 missions.
The Coronagraph and the Occulter were launched in December 2024 and form the Proba-3 mission.
Loss of the Coronagraph would interrupt the Proba-3 mission because the Coronagraph directs formation flights, controls capture and separation, and carries the main solar observation instrument.
The Proba-3 consortium is led by the Spanish group Sener and includes Airbus Defense and Space, Redwire Space, and CSL.
Artificial eclipses produced by Proba-3 enable the Coronagraph to obtain extended extreme-ultraviolet images of the solar disk and corona.
The twin Proba-3 spacecraft have completed more than 60 flights that have advanced solar and heliophysics research and provided hours of data each orbit.
The Coronagraph satellite is part of the Proba-3 mission alongside the Occulter spacecraft.
Proba-3 involves participation from 14 ESA member countries and Canada.