India's Aditya L1 and ESA's artificial eclipse-making Proba-3 collaborate for 2025 solar research

LIFTOFF of Proba3 on PSLV-XL rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India a on 5 December 2024 and An artist impression of Proba-3's occulter eclipsing Sun for coronagraph spacecraft. (Image: ESA)

India's Aditya L1 mission will join forces with the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-3 mission to conduct solar observations starting in 2025.

Aditya L1, India’s first solar mission, launched in September 2023, has been operating from the Lagrange point (L1) since January. The mission is about 1.5 million km from Earth. ESA’s Proba-3 mission, launched in December 2023, is designed to study the solar corona with two satellites that mimic a solar eclipse.

Both missions use coronagraphs to block the Sun's rays and study its periphery. Aditya’s coronagraph, the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), and Proba-3’s ASPIICS system both aid in these observations. ASPIICS, mounted with a 1.4-metre occulting disk, offers a detailed view of the Sun’s inner and outer corona, a region usually visible during eclipses.

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The collaboration between Aditya and Proba-3 will allow scientists to plan joint solar observation campaigns. The combined observations from the two missions will benefit both the Indian and ESA scientific communities, according to a report by Indian Express.

ESA successfully launched Proba-3 on December 5, and the mission operations centre in Belgium is closely monitoring its progress. Initial calibrations are underway, and the first solar observations are expected to begin by March 2025. Among its payloads, the Digital Absolute Radiometer (DARA) will soon start measuring the Sun’s total energy output.

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In early 2025, the two Proba-3 satellites will separate and begin their solar studies. The active formation flying phase of the mission is expected to begin by mid-2025, marking an exciting new chapter in solar research.