Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh), Dec 4 (UNI) In yet another perfect mission, ISRO's workhorse and reliable rocket PSLV-C59 successfully launched European Space Agency's (ESA) Proba-3 spacecraft
with two satellites from SHAR Range here on Thursday evening.
Proba-3, the world's first precision formation flying mission, was intended to study the solar corona, the Sun's outermost layer,
After a smooth and short countdown, the PSLV-C59 took off majestically from the First Launch Pad
at 1604 hrs.
After about 20 minutes of flight duration, the Proba-3 carrying the 310 kg Coronagraph Spacecraft (CSC) and 240 kg Occulter Spacecraft (OSC), was injected precisely into a highly elliptical orbit at
an apogee of 60,530 km and a perigee of 600 km with an inclination of 59 degrees in a stacked configuration.
In its 61st flight, the 44.5 m tall four-stage PSLV-C59, in its 26th XL version, with a lift off mass of
320 tonnes, successfully placed Proba-3 in orbit in a dedicated commercial mission of New Space India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO.
The PSLV-C59/PROBA-3 Mission has successfully achieved its launch objectives, deploying ESA’s satellites into their designated orbit with precision, ISRO said.
A testament to the trusted performance of PSLV, the collaboration of NSIL and ISRO, and ESA’s innovative goals, ISRO posted on X.
Addressing the Scientists from the Mission Control Centre, ISRO Chairman S Somanath said
Proba-3 Mission was accomplished successfully.
The satellites were precisely placed in the intended orbit.
He said ISRO was readying for another PSLV launch this month itself and the preparatory works are on.
He said PSLV-C60, with SpaceX experimental satellite will be launched this month. The launch vehicle is ready.
The Proba-3 mission was earlier scheduled at 1608 hrs yesterday, but was deferred by a day minutes before take off after an anomaly was detected in the spacecraft.
Congratulations to Team ISRO and Proba team", he said.
Proba-3 is an In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) mission of the European Space Agency.
The mission goal is to demonstrate precise formation flying.
Proba-3 is a technology demonstration mission of ESA and the world’s first precision formation-flying mission.
The pair of satellites will fly together, maintaining a fixed configuration as if they were a single large rigid structure in space, to prove innovative formation flying and rendezvous technologies.
The objective of this mission is Proba-3 will function as an orbital laboratory, demonstrating
acquisition, rendezvous, proximity operations and formation flying, while validating innovative
metrology sensors and control algorithms, opening up novel methods of mission control.
The two satellites will adopt a fixed configuration in space, 150m apart while lined up with the
Sun so that OSC blocks out the brilliant solar disk for the CSC.
This will open up continuous views of the Sun’s faint corona, or surrounding atmosphere, for
scientific observation.
The orbital period will be 19.7 hours and the Mission antenna will be at Santa Maria des Azores,
and ground station at Redu, Belgium.
Flying together, a pair of spacecraft will form an artificial solar eclipse in space, casting a
precisely-controlled shadow from one platform to the other to open up sustained views of
the Sun's faint surrounding corona.
(ED : PICK UP SUITABLY FROM EARLIER SERIES).
UNI GV 1730