Proba 3 - PSLV - Шрихарикота - 2024

[zandr]

https://forum.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/index.php?msg=1314608

http://polpred.com/?ns=1&ns_id=1225995

Впервые в истории Испании две национальные компании получили от Европейского космического агентства (ЕКА) заказ на осуществление космических проектов.

Речь идет о компаниях Sener и Casa Espacio. Первая осуществит проект Proba 3 с участием двух спутников, которые должны будут в качестве эксперимента маневрировать в космическом пространстве, то сближаясь, то удаляясь друг от друга. Кроме того, на спутниках будет установлен прибор для изучения солнечной короны.

Спойлер

Суть второго проекта Cheops состоит в запуске спутника с телескопом для изучения находящихся вне солнечной системы планет. Спутник должн
а сделать Испания, а телескоп поставит Швейцария. Дата осуществления проектов - 2017 год. Их стоимость - €96,5 млн и €150 млн соответственно.

При подписании контрактов присутствовали председатель испанского правительства Мариано Рахой и генеральный директор ЕКА Жан-Жак Дорден. Испанский премьер сообщил, что в 2015-2022 годах Испания направит на осуществление программ ЕКА €1,3 млрд.

[свернуть]

[zandr]

https://twitter.com/r_isro/status/1640405878871408646

r_isro  @r_isro
Apparently ESA's Proba-3 solar coronagraphy mission with two formation flying spacecrafts is manifested on PSLV for launch in 2024.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ISRO/comments/123t2xw/apparently_esas_proba3_solar_coronagraphy_mission/

[zandr]

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Proba_Missions/Proba-3_complete_Formation-flying_satellites_fully_integrated

Proba-3 complete: Formation-flying satellites fully integrated
27/03/20231657 VIEWS44 LIKES
ESA / Enabling & Support / Space Engineering & Technology / Proba Missions
The two spacecraft forming ESA's Proba-3 mission for precise formation flying in orbit are now complete. All the instruments and sensors allowing them to manoeuvre to millimetre scale precision relative to one another have been integrated aboard, and the pair are fully wrapped in multi-layer insulation – ready to be tested in simulated space conditions.

Proba-3
The pair are currently facing each other across a cleanroom belonging to Redwire Space (formerly QinetiQ Space) in Kruibeke, Belgium, in the same configuration they will adopt in orbit.
To mark the occasion of their integration, the Proba-3 project invited members of ESA's Belgian and Spanish delegations to visit the facility.

Proba-3 Occulter spacecraft
ESA's Proba-3 mission manager Damien Galano explains: "Proba-3 has contributions from across Europe, but its main coronagraph instrument comes from Belgium's Centre Spatial de Liège, CSL, and its satellites have been integrated here at Redwire Space. The satellite platforms meanwhile were designed by Airbus Defence and Space in Spain while Spain's SENER company serves as prime contractor. So these two countries are very much in the lead for the mission, and this visit gave a chance for their delegations to see this milestone for themselves."

Proba-3 Coronagraph spacecraft
Also present were representatives from the Proba-3 science team and ESA's Science Directorate. While Proba-3 is a technology-testing mission, its main payload is a science instrument focused on the Sun which will produce unique data.
During the observation phase of their orbits, the pair will form a straight line in space with the Sun exactly 144 m from each other so that the 'Occulter' spacecraft – equipped with a round disk – will cast a shadow onto the second 'Coronagraph' spacecraft.
By doing so the Occulter will block out the brilliant solar disk to allow the Coronagraph to image the wispy outer atmosphere of the Sun, known as its corona, for up to six hours at a time.

Proba-3's pair of satellites
On Earth the corona is visible only for a few moments during rare solar eclipses, but the availability of sustained observation should address many mysteries of the solar corona – including why it is a million degrees C hotter than the surface of the Sun that it radiates from.
Jorg Versluys, payload system engineer, adds: 'Ground and space observatories often incorporate Sun-blocking coronagraphs – the ESA-NASA SOHO spacecraft is one famous example – but their effectiveness is limited by light spilling around disk edges, a phenomenon called diffraction. By hosting our coronagraph on a separate spacecraft we reduce diffraction and increase overall visibility of the Sun's surroundings. And looking closely at the Occulter's edge shows that it has been precisely curved to reduce diffraction effects still further."

Wrapping Proba-3's Coronagraph spacecraft in multi-layer insulation
Sustained observations will only be made possible by the spacecraft entering formation for a prolonged period of time, enabled in turn by an onboard suite of guidance and control methods, including satellite navigation receivers, radio inter-satellite links, lasers and optical cameras.
Damien notes: "The latter will be guided by light emitting displays placed on the face of both spacecraft for the other to see. In fact one of the reasons the spacecraft's multi-layer insulation is black is to ensure maximum contrast with the onboard LEDs so the cameras can observe them clearly."
The satellite pair will fly on a highly elongated (or 'elliptical') 19 and a half hour orbit that will see them venture a maximum 6 0530 km away from Earth – performing observations at the top of each orbit to minimise gravitational and illumination effects from our planet. For the rest of their orbit they will be free flying with respect to each other.
Next month the spacecraft will be shipped to IABG in Germany for the start of a four-month environmental test campaign, simulating every aspect of the launch and space environments. Proba-3 is due to be flown by PSLV launcher from India next year.

Proba-3 fact sheet

[zandr]

https://redwirespace.com/newsroom/proba-3-testing-milestones-completed-at-redwires-facility-ahead-of-2024-launch/

Proba-3 Testing Milestones Completed at Redwire's Facility Ahead of 2024 Launch

The European Space Agency's (ESA) PROBA-3 mission, the world's first precision formation flying mission, is set to launch later this year. Composed of two spacecraft acting as one, PROBA-3 will demonstrate formation flying technologies and rendezvous experiments for future science, astronomy and Earth observation missions that will require formation flying.
Redwire is proud to be part of the Proba-3 team. Redwire's team in Belgium is responsible for spacecraft integration, testing, along with the onboard computer and for integration, testing, and the development of one of the technology demonstration payloads: the 3D Energetic Electron Spectrometer (3DEES), a high-fidelity 3D energetic electron spectrometer.
Following successful spacecraft integration at Redwire's Belgium facility, the Redwire Operations team completed successful testing of both spacecraft and subunits.
Testing Milestones Completed
For the autocompatibility test, completed with Redwire partner Airbus Defense and Space, both spacecraft were stacked together, just like they will be for launch and the first month of the mission. During the test, Redwire teams checked if the electromagnetic radiation of the antennas installed on the spacecraft disturbed any of the electrical systems on board the two spacecraft. The Redwire engineering team found that there were no disturbing interferences between the subsystems.

For the autocompatibility test, completed with Redwire partner Airbus Defense and Space, the Proba-3 spacecraft were stacked together. Credit: Redwire

Redwire and ESA also completed testing of the FLLS (Fine Lateral and Longitudinal Sensor) laser sensor, one of the metrology methods that P3 will use to ensure precise relative position measurements between the two spacecraft. To calibrate the FLLS measurement device, which is installed on the OSC, the ESA team set up various mirrors in Redwire's cleanroom and placed a corner cube retroreflector (a unit analogous to the one installed on the CSC) on a robot, this way creating optical distances larger than the length of our cleanroom, and the FLLS could be calibrated using different measurement distances. Note that when in formation, the satellites will fly 144 m apart.

Credit: ESA/M. Pédoussaut

A Mission of Firsts
P3 will study the sun corona, one of the most dynamic regions of the sun, that also has the largest influence on earth, for example through solar flares or even larger scale phenomena called coronal mass ejections. P3 is also the first precise formation flying demonstrator. Precise formation flying avoids the financial and technical problems associated with building one satellite of equivalent size and provides flexibility to the mission.
Read more about Proba-3 and successful integration at Redwire's Belgium facility here.

[zandr]

https://twitter.com/UtpalGautam5/status/1775738386093117688

UtpalG  @UtpalGautam5
This mission from ESA is very interesting. #Proba3 will be launched in the second half of 2024 and will be the first mission which will try to mimic a solar eclipse in space. The two satellites involved namely the Occulter and Coronagraph (1/2)

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will move in an elliptical orbit in such a way that the latter will always be in the shadow of the former. Thus allowing the Coronagraph to study solar Corona in great detail without being distributed by the dazzling sun rays. ISRO's PSLV will launch #Proba3.   (2/2)