Getting Proba-3 fit for flight

Proba-3’s Coronagraph spacecraft seen undergoing its ‘fit check’ with the launcher payload adapter that will link it to the Indian PSLV-XL launcher due to fly it into orbit on 4 December.

The satellite pair reached the Satish Dhawan Space Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO, early this month and underwent functional testing in the SP-1B facility, confirming they were unaffected by their journey from Europe.

Thanks to the hard work of the Proba-3 team they could then be transferred to the SP-2B facility for the next phase of preparations to start.

The Coronagraph was carefully lowered and mated on the adapter. The clampband holding the two together was then installed to ensure a perfect fit. The umbilical cables allowing the spacecraft to be monitored during fueling and launch were also put in place and tested to ensure they connected and, importantly, disconnected once the clampband was opened again and the satellite separated from the adapter.

The fit check, as the name suggests, confirms the spacecraft fits onto the adapter as designed – a routine but essential step for two items of hardware prepared on opposite sides of Earth before mission fuelling can begin. Proba-3’s second Occulter spacecraft will be stacked on top of the Coronagraph for flight.

Once in orbit, the the disk-bearing Occulter spacecraft will block out the fiery face of the Sun to form an artificial solar eclipse in space, allowing sustained observations of the faint solar corona, where space weather and the solar wind originates.

Follow the work of the Proba-3 team on our mission blog.