Updates Proba mission news

[Notebook]

22 August 2016
Every 18 months or so, scientists and sensation-seekers gather at set points on Earth’s surface, to await awe-inspiring solar eclipses. The Moon briefly blocks the Sun, revealing its mysterious outer atmosphere, the corona. Though what if researchers could induce such eclipses at will?
That’s the scientific vision behind ESA’s double-satellite Proba-3, the world’s first precision formation-flying mission, planned for launch in 2019.

An ‘occulter’ satellite will fly 150 m ahead of a second ‘coronagraph’ satellite, casting a precise shadow to reveal the ghostly tendrils of the solar corona, down to 1.2 solar radii, for hours on end.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/S...-3_seeing_through_shadow_to_view_Sun_s_corona

 

[Notebook]

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/S...a-3_set_the_controls_for_the_verge_of_the_Sun

12 September 2016
By converging in orbit, a pair of small satellites will open a new view on the source of the largest structure in the Solar System: the Sun’s ghostly atmosphere, extending millions of kilometres out into space.
The two satellites together are called Proba-3, set for launch in late 2019. Through precise formation flying, one will cast a shadow across the second to open up an unimpeded view of the inner area of the ‘corona’, which is a million times fainter than the blindingly brilliant solar disc.

 

[Notebook]

Couldn't find a Proba-1 specific thread, so some news about it here.

8 March 2018
Originally designed as a two-year mission and launched on 22 October 2001, Proba-1 is still going strong, providing very valuable hyperspectral data.
The Project for On-Board Autonomy, or Proba-1, is ESA’s technology demonstration mission operated with the support of ESA’s Earthnet Programme. On 9 March, with 5982 days in orbit, Proba-1 will surpass ERS-2, making it ESA’s longest operated Earth observation mission of all time.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Proba-1/Proba-1_sets_new_record

 

[Notebook]

Couldn't find a Proba-1 specific thread, so some news about it here.

8 March 2018
Originally designed as a two-year mission and launched on 22 October 2001, Proba-1 is still going strong, providing very valuable hyperspectral data.
The Project for On-Board Autonomy, or Proba-1, is ESA’s technology demonstration mission operated with the support of ESA’s Earthnet Programme. On 9 March, with 5982 days in orbit, Proba-1 will surpass ERS-2, making it ESA’s longest operated Earth observation mission of all time.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Proba-1/Proba-1_sets_new_record

 

[Notebook]

More Proba-1 news.

Details
Title Proba-1 view of the Great Pyramids
Released 28/03/2018 10:12 am
Copyright ESA
Description
A view looking north to south of Egypt’s famous Giza Pyramid Complex, as seen by ESA’s Proba-1 minisatellite.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/03/Proba-1_view_of_the_Great_Pyramids

 

[Notebook]

Details
Title Proba-V Antarctic survey
Released 04/05/2018 10:05 am
Copyright ESA/Belspo – produced by VITO
Description
ESA’s Proba-V minisatellite has imaged all of the Antarctic after users asked for a survey of the icy southern continent. Proba-V collected the data between November 2017 and February 2018.
Imagery is available at 1 km, 300 m and 100 m resolution. For information on how to access it, click here.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/05/Proba-V_Antarctic_survey

 

[Notebook]

Title An artificial Proba-2 view of the solar north pole
Released 03/12/2018 9:00 am
Copyright ESA/Royal Observatory of Belgium
Description
We’ve sent numerous missions into space to study the Sun; past and present solar explorers include ESA’s Proba-2 (PRoject for OnBoard Autonomy 2) and SOHO (SOlar Heliospheric Observatory) probes, NASA’s SDO and STEREO missions (the Solar Dynamics Observatory and Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, respectively), and the joint NASA/ESA Ulysses mission. However, most of these spacecraft have focused mainly on the equatorial regions of the Sun, with the notable exception of Ulysses – this probe observed our star at a wide range of latitudes for nearly two decades, until the mission came to an end in 2009.
Despite Ulysses’ insights, this focus on low solar latitudes has left the Sun’s poles relatively unexplored. A lack of imaging data means that scientists must get creative in piecing together pictures of the Sun’s polar regions – as seen here in this artificial image of the solar north pole.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/12/An_artificial_Proba-2_view_of_the_solar_north_pole

 

[Notebook]

Title An artificial Proba-2 view of the solar north pole
Released 03/12/2018 9:00 am
Copyright ESA/Royal Observatory of Belgium
Description
We’ve sent numerous missions into space to study the Sun; past and present solar explorers include ESA’s Proba-2 (PRoject for OnBoard Autonomy 2) and SOHO (SOlar Heliospheric Observatory) probes, NASA’s SDO and STEREO missions (the Solar Dynamics Observatory and Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, respectively), and the joint NASA/ESA Ulysses mission. However, most of these spacecraft have focused mainly on the equatorial regions of the Sun, with the notable exception of Ulysses – this probe observed our star at a wide range of latitudes for nearly two decades, until the mission came to an end in 2009.
Despite Ulysses’ insights, this focus on low solar latitudes has left the Sun’s poles relatively unexplored. A lack of imaging data means that scientists must get creative in piecing together pictures of the Sun’s polar regions – as seen here in this artificial image of the solar north pole.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/12/An_artificial_Proba-2_view_of_the_solar_north_pole

 

[Notebook]

Title Proba-V view of Aral Sea
Released 09/01/2019 10:26 am
Copyright ESA/Belspo – produced by VITO
Description
This Proba-V view shows all that is left of the Aral Sea, once one of the four largest lakes in the world and now one of the world’s major ecological disaster areas. It has shrunk into separate lakes, surrounded by Earth’s youngest desert.
The Aral Sea was once a large land-locked lake between Kazakhstan in the North and Uzbekistan in the South, possessing an area of 68 000 sq. km – twice that of Belgium.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2019/01/Proba-V_view_of_Aral_Sea

 

[Notebook]

Title Proba-V view of Aral Sea
Released 09/01/2019 10:26 am
Copyright ESA/Belspo – produced by VITO
Description
This Proba-V view shows all that is left of the Aral Sea, once one of the four largest lakes in the world and now one of the world’s major ecological disaster areas. It has shrunk into separate lakes, surrounded by Earth’s youngest desert.
The Aral Sea was once a large land-locked lake between Kazakhstan in the North and Uzbekistan in the South, possessing an area of 68 000 sq. km – twice that of Belgium.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2019/01/Proba-V_view_of_Aral_Sea

 

[Notebook]

Proba V at VI.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2019/05/New_Zealand_s_South_Island_imaged_by_Proba-V

 

[Notebook]

Title Proba-2’s predicted view of 2 July eclipse
Released: 27/06/2019
Length 00:00:07
Language English
Footage Type Animation
Copyright ESA/Royal Observatory of Belgium
Description
On 2 July 2019, a total solar eclipse will be visible from the South Pacific, falling over land for some parts of Chile and Argentina, with other South American countries enjoying a partial eclipse.
Total solar eclipses occur thanks to the fact that the Moon’s average distance from Earth is just right for it to appear as the same size in the sky as the significantly larger and more distant Sun. When the Moon slides directly between Earth and the Sun it appears to cover our star completely, temporarily blocking out its light and creating a total solar eclipse for those along the narrow path cast by the Moon’s shadow.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2019/06/Proba-2_s_predicted_view_of_2_July_eclipse

 

[Notebook]

Some time later...

www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2019/07/Proba-2_views_four_partial_eclipses

 

[Notebook]

SENER Aeroespacial, the aerospace arm of Spanish engineering and technology group SENER, and the Centre for Advanced Aerospace Technologies (CATEC) in Seville, have collaborated to develop a 3D printed metal antenna for the European Space Agency (ESA)’s PROBA-3 space mission.

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news...ntenna-for-esas-proba-3-space-mission-163204/

 

[Notebook]

Last week marked a milestone for ESA’s Proba-2 satellite: 10 years of operation in orbit around the Earth. Since its launch on 2 November 2009, Proba-2 (PRoject for OnBoard Autonomy) has probed the intricacies of the Sun and its connection to our planet, imaging and observing our star and investigating how it drives all manner of complex cosmic phenomena: from solar eruptions and flares to closer-to-home space weather effects.

http://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2019/11/Ten_Suns_for_10_years

 

[Notebook]

Proba-2 watches Mercury transit

ESA's Proba-2 had a ring-side seat for the transit of Mercury on 11 November 2019.
Proba-2 monitors the Sun from Earth orbit and was able to spot Mercury’s transit as a small black disc – seen here at the far left as it begins its journey across the face of the Sun. The image was taken with the SWAP extreme ultraviolet telescope.
Solar transits – where a celestial body is seen to pass across the solar disc from the perspective of Earth – are relatively rare events. Mercury undergoes around 13 transits a century, and will not occur again until 2032.

http://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2019/11/Proba-2_watches_Mercury_transit

 

[asbjos]

I'm always amazed by how small Mercury / how large the Sun is ...
I remember watching the previous Venus transit, just barely seeing the smal black dot on the Sun's disk with my cheap filtered paper-glasses.
Therefore saw no point in attempting to spot the even tinier Mercury, a decision helped by the heavy snowfall outside.

 

[Notebook]

The changing activity of our Sun as seen by ESA’s Proba-2 satellite in 2019.
The satellite is continuously monitoring the Sun – one image was selected to represent each day of the year in this montage of 365 Suns. The images were taken by the satellite’s SWAP camera, which works at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths to capture the Sun’s hot turbulent atmosphere – the corona, at temperatures of about a million degrees.

http://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2020/01/The_Sun_in_2019

 

[Notebook]

ESA’s cubic-metre-sized Proba-V minisatellite will soon end its nearly seven-year global mission to monitor the daily growth of all Earth’s vegetation. As Copernicus Sentinel-3 takes on this task instead, Proba-V will be free to perform experimental monitoring over Europe and Africa – including co-observations with new companion missions.

http://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support...bal_plant_tracking_Proba-V_assigned_new_focus

 

[Notebook]

ESA’s cubic-metre-sized Proba-V minisatellite, seen left, has ended its seven-year global mission to monitor the daily growth of all Earth’s vegetation, a task being taken up by Copernicus Sentinel-3 instead, seen right.

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2020/07/Proba-V_passes_the_torch