A groundbreaking mission by the European Space Agency’s Proba-3 has successfully replicated total solar eclipses from space, providing unprecedented insights into the sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona. The spacecraft pair, orbiting Earth in an elliptical path, create artificial eclipses by lining up to block each other’s view of the sun, capturing data on the corona’s temperature and composition.
Forecast for 6 months: The Proba-3 mission is expected to generate over 200 hours of artificial eclipses within the next six months, providing scientists with a wealth of new data to analyze and understand the sun’s corona.
Forecast for 1 year: By the end of the year, the Proba-3 mission is expected to have produced over 1,000 hours of artificial eclipses, significantly advancing our understanding of the sun’s corona and its role in the solar system.
Forecast for 5 years: In the next five years, the Proba-3 mission is expected to have paved the way for further research into the sun’s corona, potentially leading to breakthroughs in our understanding of solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and their impact on Earth’s magnetic field.
Forecast for 10 years: By the end of the decade, the Proba-3 mission is expected to have inspired a new generation of solar physicists and engineers, leading to the development of more advanced spacecraft and instruments capable of studying the sun’s corona in unprecedented detail.
