ESA
There’s no denying that there’s something truly mesmerising about a total solar eclipse.
So much so that in the 90s, eclipses were hyped in their run-up, with kids all over the world scrambling to make special ‘solar eclipse viewers’ out of cereal boxes.
Then came the truly astonishing moment, when the moon blocks out the sun entirely, with just a small halo remaining, and true darkness sets in on our world… for a few minutes, at least.
Though total solar eclipses happen a couple of times every year, they feel rare – and that’s because in any one place on Earth, a solar eclipse only happens once every 400 years.
However, as with an ever-increasing number of natural phenomena, the European Space Agency have revealed that they have achieved something incredible: the first ‘artificial solar eclipse.’
ESA
Achieved using two spacecraft exploring the sun’s outer atmosphere, the ESA’s Proba-3 mission was launched from India in December 2024.
And though the images of the artificial eclipse are astonishing enough on their own, what is really impressive is the technology that allowed this to happen.
That’s because the two satellites fly together as one, and this feat was all thanks to the pair, known as the Coronagraph and the Occulter, flying completely aligned without any assistance from ground control, as the ESA’s Damien Galano explained in a statement:
“Although we are still in the commissioning phase, we have already achieved precise formation flying with unprecedented accuracy. This is what allowed us to capture the mission’s first images, which will no doubt be of high value to the scientific community.
The formation flying we have achieved so far was performed autonomously, but under supervision of the ground control team, who were ready to intervene to correct any potential deviations. Our one remaining task is to achieve full autonomy, when our confidence in the system will be such that we will not even routinely monitor from the ground.”
Thanks to the ESA’s ground-breaking technology, the unmanned spacecraft was able to achieve the extraordinary.
ESA
However, the Coronagraph and the Occulter have much more in store for them during their mission.
As well as capturing incredible images, the spacecraft are sending vital information about the sun’s corona back to Earth.
This will aid our understanding of solar wind and coronal mass ejections (CME) – constant and sporadic ejections of matter from the sun into space, respectively – to help safeguard the technologies that life on Earth is reliant on.
That’s because heightened geomagnetic activity can cause solar storms, which interfere with GPS, power grids, and other satellite-based technology, potentially causing chaos at ground level.
But at over a million degrees Celsius, the satellites exploring the sun’s corona have a lot to contend with as they continue their mission.
If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.
Categories: NATURE/SPACE, SCI/TECH
Tags: · cme, Coronal Mass Ejection, esa, European Space Agency, science, single topic, solar eclipse, solar storm, solar wind, space, space travel, sun, technology, top, total solar eclipse