Write a commentESA’s Proba-3 mission will launch on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL) from the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh.
The event at ROB in Brussels will allow media to follow the launch live, record interviews and hear from experts working on the mission.
Programme of the ROB event in Brussels (all times CET):
9:00 – 10:15 Private guided tours for media. Tours are scheduled upon arrival and no booking is needed.
10:00 Welcome note
10:30 Presentation of the Proba-3 mission from experts:
- Dietmar Pilz - Director of Technology, Engineering and Quality, ESA
- Ian Carnelli - Head of Systems Department, ESA
- Erik Masurer - President, Redwire Space Europe
- Arnaud Vadja - Chairman of the Board of Directors, Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo)
- Frank Monteny - Director General Research and Space, Belspo and Head of the Belgian Delegationto ESA
11:15 Live feed from launch
12:00 – 12:45 Proba-3 science and industry talk with experts
13:00 Lunch
13:00 – 15:00 Private guided tours for media. Upon arrival, no booking needed. (More possible guided tours after 15:00, only if requested).
ESA spokespersons onsite available for interviews:
- Gaitee Hussain – Head of Science Engagement and Oversight Office, ESA
- Ian Carnelli – Head of Systems Department, ESA
Registration
Media can register for the above event by 3 December at 09:00 CET by selecting and completing the relevant form at https://blogs.esa.int/forms/ninja-forms/4oqw8
Please contact to schedule interviews during the event.
Event location:
Ringlaan/Avenue Circulaire 3, 1180 Ukkel
Enter through the main gate: https://maps.app.goo.gl/NV48yAvbJUASsuCn8. (Ringlaan/Avenue Circulaire 3, 1180 Ukkel). There is parking available.
About Proba-3
Proba-3 is an ESA technology demonstration mission funded via the General Support Technology Programme (GSTP) and is ESA’s – and the world’s – first precision formation-flying mission. A pair of satellites will fly together, maintaining a fixed configuration as if they were a single large rigid structure in space, to prove formation flying and rendezvous technologies.
The mission will demonstrate formation flying in the context of a large-scale science experiment. Holding position to a precision of a single millimetre, one Proba-3 spacecraft will line up in front of the other, around 150 m away, to cast its shadow precisely onto the other. The shade provided by the first spacecraft will cover the fiery face of the Sun so that its faint surrounding ‘coronal’ atmosphere becomes visible. The enigmatic corona – much hotter than the Sun itself – is where space weather originates, a topic of widespread scientific and practical interest.
On Earth, scientists must travel the world to position themselves for a brief glimpse of the Sun’s corona lasting just a few minutes at a time during total solar eclipses. However, the new cutting-edge technologies applied to Proba-3 mean that the mission will be able to create ‘solar eclipses on demand.’
Proba-3 instruments will peer closer to the solar rim than was previously possible in space, for up to six hours at a time during each approximately 19-hour orbit around Earth.
More information about Proba-3
Proba-3 media kit - https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/technology/esa-proba3_media_kit.pdf
For more information, please contact: ESA Newsroom and Media Relations