Latest PROBA Stories
The scientific community is celebrating 7 years of high resolution hyperspectral satellite imagery from the highly successful CHRIS multi-spectral payload imager. The instrument has been so successful that an advanced variant is under development, offering new functionality for Earth observation missions in a wide range of applications in resource monitoring and mapping, environmental science and security.CHRIS (Compact High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) was developed by SSTL's Optical...
Have you ever wished you could clearly see the mountains, coastline, desert, ocean or city underneath your aircraft as you flew over? Passengers onboard select Air France flights will soon be able to explore the unique range of destinations being flown over, such as the Alps, Himalayas or Gulf of Siam, thanks to satellite images provided by ESA.The show, which has been integrated into the in-flight Geovision programme, will begin automatically with beautiful and captivating images correlating...
Within the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) framework, sustainable management of forests is recognised as an important challenge - one objective that will be addressed with the planned Sentinel-2 mission. As part of the mission's preparatory activities, scientists have been conducting experiments in a mountainous region of the Czech Republic to help design a new procedure for retrieving precise data on the health of spruce forests. Since the spring of 2005, scientists...
On October 22, 2001, Proba was launched as a technology demonstrator within ESA's General Support Technology Programme. Once in orbit, however, the small satellite's unique capabilities and performance made it evident that it could make big contributions to science and so its nominal lifetime was extended to serve as an Earth Observation mission. Although Proba (Project for On Board Autonomy) was originally built for a two-year mission, the superb performance of its platform has allowed it...
Proba-3 is the third in ESA's series of missions for validating developments in space systems while carrying an 'added value' user payload which can directly benefit from the innovations under test.Proba-3 will demonstrate the technologies required for formation flying of multiple spacecraft. An instrument to observe the solar corona is being used for the ongoing design phase. During the ESA Council at Ministerial Level held in December 2005, new activities were proposed to cover the design,...
ESA -- In orbit for three and a half years now, ESA's smallest Earth Observation satellite is making a big contribution to science, a workshop heard this week. Proba applications range from studying land vegetation to water quality monitoring, assessing productivity of Italian vineyards, even helping hunt for meteorite impact craters. ESA's Proba microsatellite is about the same size and shape as a washing machine. It was launched on 22 October 2001 as a one-year technology demonstrator,...
ESA -- The Millau viaduct, newly inaugurated by President Jacques Chirac, is now the world's tallest road bridge. It stands high above the Tarn valley in France's Massif Central mountains, as seen in this 11 December satellite image from ESA's Proba. The bridge is made of a four-lane steel-built roadway stretching across 2460 metres. At its highest the roadway is suspended 270 metres above the Tarn River.  It is supported by seven concrete pillars standing 343 metres tall, greater...
