Eclipse-making double satellite Proba-3 enters orbit

ESA’s twin Proba-3 platforms will perform precise formation flying down to a single millimetre, as if they were one single giant spacecraft. To demonstrate their degree of control, the pair will produce artificial solar eclipses in orbit, giving prolonged views of the Sun’s ghostly surrounding atmosphere, the corona.

Fourteen ESA Member States including Canada came together on this mission, set to demonstrate game-changing European technology in the areas of autonomous operations and precision manoeuvring by delivering never-before-seen science results.

The pair will remain attached together while initial commissioning takes place, overseen from mission control at the European Space Security and Education Centre, ESEC, in Redu, Belgium.