The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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The flare seen here took place at 11:54 CET on Saturday 3 April and recorded by ESA's Proba-2. Significantly, this eruption was lined up with Earth as it erupted, sending a vast number of charged particles hurtling towards us, reaching Earth the following Monday, 5 April. Observing in extreme ultraviolet, Proba-2 acquired an image of the event every 100 seconds.
Measuring only a cubic metre, Proba-2 is crammed with technology demonstrations but also carries science payloads: its SWAP (Sun Watcher using APS detectors and imaging processing) instrument is only the size of a large shoebox, but gathers images much more frequently than SOHO’s equivalent sensor.