The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is preparing for the much-anticipated launch of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-3 mission, which has been rescheduled to 4:12 pm on Wednesday, December 5, due to the discovery of an issue with the spacecraft. The launch will be set at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh and the vehicle to be used will be the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL). Chandrayaan-2 has been designed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) is managing it.
There will be the new 25-hour countdown for the mission that has been shifted to start from the time when it was announced to begin on Tuesday. Proba-3 is one of the key missions for ESA; an 11-meter long and 550 kg spacecraft designed to demonstrate fine formation flying for the first time in the history. This mission will include two satellites operating in close space at merely 150 meters from each other, a first in satellite engineering.
The major objective of Proba-3 is to improve our understanding of the Solar corona by occulting the disk of the Sun and allowing precise measurements to be taken of the outer atmosphere of the star. This mission will assist in solving mysteries of solar activity, and the consequences it has on space weather, for the Earth.
Though ISRO is providing the launch help, the ESA scientists are planning to do detailed analysis once the spacecraft is at its planned orbit. This acts as a clear evidence of the need for global coalitions in the space sector missions and related studies.
The PSLV-C59 rocket will lift off at 4:12 pm of Wednesday which placed the Proba-3 spacecraft into orbit. This mission establishes indisputable evidence of the fact that ISRO is equipped to cater to international scientific activities and therefore helps India in the long run to be recognized as a reliable player in space.
ISRO recently rescheduled the mission, which is not unusual given the fact that an anomaly was detected with the spacecraft prior to the launch to make sure all procedures to ensure a successful completion of the mission are checked and conducted.
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