A PAIR of satellites will be launched as part of the Proba-3 mission, in an attempt to create an artificial total solar eclipse in space. The European Space Agency (ESA) has devised this mission to study the Sun’s corona, the outer layer of the star’s atmosphere. The corona is very difficult to study, except during natural solar eclipses on Earth. By sending two probes up into space, scientists hope to simulate this effect and gain a better understanding of the corona. Proba-3 will be the world’s first precision formation flying mission, with two spacecraft forming an artificial solar eclipse in space to allow for sustained views of the Sun’s corona.
During each eclipse lasting around six hours, one spacecraft will block the direct light from the Sun, allowing the other probe to observe the faint visible light of the corona down to about 43,000 miles above the Sun’s surface. This will provide scientists with detailed data on waves moving through the loops and plasma of the corona, which may be linked to the high temperatures of the corona. Despite the artificial eclipse in space, it will not block the view of the Sun for people on Earth. The mission aims to solve the mystery of why the corona is much hotter than the Sun, with temperatures reaching two-hundred times hotter than the surface of the Sun.
Through Proba-3, scientists hope to study the corona closer to the surface than ever before and capture small-scale, fast movements by imaging the inner corona. The probe will also help in understanding how solar wind is accelerated to high speeds, how coronal mass ejections work, and variations in the Sun’s energy output over time. The launch of the Proba-3 mission was rescheduled to Thursday, December 5, 2024, at 10.42am London time from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India. The separation of the spacecraft is expected in early 2025, with the first images to arrive by March.
The solar wind, made up of plasma particles like electrons, protons, and alpha particles, is continuously emitted by the Sun and can produce auroras when it collides with Earth’s magnetic field. Solar wind can be fast or slow and is classified into two main types based on speed, composition, and source region. The ‘slow’ solar wind, reaching Earth with speeds up to 500 km/s, resembles the Sun’s outer atmosphere or corona and is connected to active sunspot regions that produce solar flares and eruptions. Scientists believe that studying the solar wind and coronal mass ejections through the Proba-3 mission will provide valuable insights into the workings of the Sun’s atmosphere.
The Proba-3 mission will offer an unprecedented opportunity to study the Sun’s corona in great detail and shed light on the mysteries surrounding this enigmatic part of the Sun. By creating artificial solar eclipses in space, scientists hope to gain insights into the high temperatures of the corona, the dynamics of solar wind acceleration, and the behavior of coronal mass ejections. With the launch scheduled for December 5, 2024, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India, the scientific community eagerly anticipates the valuable data that will be gathered from this groundbreaking mission. The precision formation flying mission of Proba-3 marks a significant milestone in space exploration and our understanding of the Sun’s complex processes.
