US EditionPublished • loading... • Updated
'Miracle': Europe reconnects with lost spacecraft
Contact was restored after the spacecraft’s solar panels realigned to the Sun, enabling battery recharge and allowing ESA to begin system tests following a month offline.
- On March 19, the European Space Agency re-established contact with the Coronagraph spacecraft after about a month of silence, announcing the reconnection following an ESA Council meeting.
- A February 14 anomaly triggered a chain reaction that stripped the spacecraft's orientation and prevented safe mode entry, leaving its solar panel facing away from the Sun and draining batteries.
- Proba-3 launched in December 2024 as a two-year mission using twin satellites—one with a 1.4-metre shield and one Coronagraph—to generate artificial solar eclipses from 37,000 miles above Earth.
- Villafranca ground station in Spain received telemetry confirming the spacecraft is stable in protective "safe mode," and ESA experts will switch instruments back on to assess damage.
- If recovered, Proba-3 could resume 10 to 12 hours of corona observations weekly over two years; however, if either the Occulter or Coronagraph fails, the mission is effectively over.
Insights by Ground AI
26 Articles
26 Articles
The European Space Agency (ESA) lost control of an important satellite for more than a month. This concerns one of the two Proba-3 satellites, which were largely built in Belgium. For a moment it seemed as though the mission would be lost prematurely, but contact has now been restored. "A huge relief," says ESA.
·Antwerp, Belgium
Read Full Article
In February, one of the satellites of the Proba 3 expedition stopped working, but with a bit of luck, the story turned around.
Coverage Details
Total News Sources26
Leaning Left4Leaning Right2Center10Last UpdatedBias Distribution63% Center
Bias Distribution
- 63% of the sources are Center
63% Center
L 25%
C 63%
12%
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
