Latest PROBA Stories

[WATCH VIDEO: Vega Launch Sequence Replay] Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online After a delayed launch due to strong wind conditions on Saturday May 4, ESA's Vega rocket lifted off early Tuesday (02:06 GMT May 7) on a complex mission to set three payloads into two different orbits. The ESA successfully launched the rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, carrying Proba-V, VNREDSat-1 and ESTCube-1. Tuesday’s launch was the second mission for...

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Update (May 6 at 10:15 a.m.) ESA’s second Vega flight, VV02, due for a launch this past weekend, was canceled at last minute due to unfavorable weather conditions. The Vega rocket was scheduled to lift off on May 4 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, carrying Proba-V as the prime payload. Proba-V is the first of four ESA missions in the Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment (VERTA) program, which will...

ESA ESA’s Proba-V vegetation-mapping minisatellite has been fitted to the payload adapter and met its fellow passengers for its 2 May flight to orbit on a Vega launcher. Last week, technicians attached Proba-V to the top of the Vespa adapter, which carries multiple payloads on a single Vega. The other two satellites flying with Proba-V have now been installed inside Vespa: Vietnam’s VNREDSat Earth observation mission and Estonia’s ESTCube-1 student nanosatellite, to test...

Watch the video "Proba-3 Mission Spacecraft Will Fly In Formation" April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Space Agency's (ESA) Proba-3 mission, a world first in precise formation flying, is being led by Spanish industry. The aim of the project is to demonstrate that two satellites can be synchronized to move as one object with sub-millimeter precision, enabling the creation of enormous space telescopes with the lens and detector hundreds of feet apart....

ESA [ Watch The Video ] The French Spot satellites have been charting the world’s vegetation since 1998. This important task soon falls to ESA’s Proba-V, which, despite being only a little larger than a washing machine, will provide sharp views of Earth’s plant life every two days. Keeping a close check on the health of vegetation is not only essential for monitoring environmental change, but also for numerous practical applications – importantly, those related to agriculture...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online The European Space Agency's (ESA) Proba-V microsatellite is going through some testing to ensure it is fully ready to start charting global vegetation every two days. The microsatellite will be launched in April, after which it will be flying a miniaturized version of the Vegetation sensor on France's full-sized Spot-5 satellite. Proba-V is being tested at a specialized Interspace facility in Toulouse, France, undergoing rigorous...

[ Watch The Video ( 1 ) ]   [ Watch The Video ( 2 ) ] ESA ESA’s Sun-watching Proba-2 satellite experienced three partial solar eclipses last night while lucky observers watching from northern Australia were treated to a total solar eclipse. During a total solar eclipse, the Moon moves in front of the Sun as seen from Earth, their alignment and separation such that the much closer Moon appears large enough to block out the light from the much more distant Sun. Since Proba-2...

ESA Tomorrow’s total solar eclipse will only be visible in its entirety to ground-based observers watching from northern Australia, but ESA’s Sun-watching Proba-2 satellite will have a ringside seat from its orbit around Earth. During a total solar eclipse the Moon moves in front of the Sun as seen from Earth, their separation and alignment such that the Moon appears large enough to temporarily block out the Sun’s light. An eerie light is cast over ground observers as the...

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Every year around this time, hurricanes and tropical storms churn out from the Atlantic ocean, striking the Caribbean Islands and the East and Gulf Coasts of the U.S. As such, every year, this season provides meteorologists the opportunity to monitor and study these deadly and destructive storms, working to better understand these storms and improve their tracking technologies. Using a combination of on-the-ground tools and...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online With the Olympics officially wrapped up, those wishing the international games would never come to an end can look at a new photo taken by a satellite of the Olympic neighborhood to help tickle their fancy until 2016. The European Space Agency's Proba-1 microsatellite snapped a photo of London's Olympic Park with its High Resolution Camera, showing off stadiums where records were broken and hearts were won. The Olympic Park is...