Sun setter: ESA to create its own solar eclipses
by Stuart Clark from on (#306PZ)
Agency's Proba-3 mission plans pair of formation-flying spacecraft to form eclipses in space for corona research
A mission by the European Space Agency to create artificial eclipses in space is nearing a crucial milestone in development. The critical design review will take place this autumn and determine whether the spacecraft can proceed to fabrication, test and finally launch.
The launch date scheduled for Proba-3 is 2020. The venture will help solar research by providing scientists with long, uninterrupted, views of the sun's tenuous outer atmosphere, the corona.
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