With the recent observation of a supermassive prominence that is over 100 times the size of the sun, attention has been focused on the latest solar observation satellite to be launched next year. Coronas, huge explosions on the surface of celestial bodies such as the Sun, and the resulting prominences, can create powerful stellar winds that can cause catastrophe on nearby planets.
Therefore, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) mission ‘PROBA (PProject for On-Board Automy)-3’ is attracting more attention. The mission aims to closely observe solar activity by launching small satellites ‘OSC (Occulter Spacecraft)’ and ‘CSC (Coronagraph spacecraft)’ next year.
The OSC, which was assembled on March 27, is 1.4m wide, 1.1m long, 1.2m high, and weighs 250kg. CSC is 1m wide, 1.5m long, 1.2m high, and weighs 350kg. Like NASA’s planetary probes ‘Voyager 1 and 2’, the two are operated as a pair. Unlike the ‘Voyager’ probes that are flying at different speeds, the satellites of the ‘Prova-3’ mission focus on formation flight in which position and attitude are harmonized.
ESA said, “The two satellites will fly while maintaining a distance of about 144 m.” “The geocentric orbit will rotate once in about 19.5 hours to observe the sun’s activity moment by moment, collect information, and transmit it to Earth.” he explained.
Both satellites essentially monitor the sun using a coronagraph. It is easy to understand if you think of it as a device that artificially creates a situation like a solar eclipse with a disk-shaped shade. The sun’s photosphere is so dazzling that the corona or prominence cannot be observed in detail by conventional methods.
A light shield with a diameter of about 1.4 m was mounted on the OSC. Through this, when the light of the sun is blocked, the observation device ‘ASPIICS’ mounted on the CSC captures the solar corona. Just as the Sun-Moon-Earth line is in a straight line when a total solar eclipse occurs, it flies in the order of the Sun-OSC-CSC.
If two satellites fly together like the ‘Proba-3’ mission, missions that cannot be solved by one satellite can be divided and executed. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)’s ‘Kiku 7 (ETS-VII)’ satellite or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s ‘GRACE’ satellite operated since 2002 to examine the effects of Earth’s gravity Representative. As all of these equipment were medium and large, the academic world is paying attention to the ‘Proba-3’ mission, which is the first formation flight of small satellites.
ESA said, “If there is no change, the two satellites are scheduled to be launched in India in 2024, and will collect more than 1,000 hours of solar corona data for about two years.” You will be able to find out the secrets of
Reporter Jeong Ian [email protected]
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