Tue Dec 03 00:16:42 UTC 2024: ## ISRO to Launch ESA’s PROBA-3 Solar Research Mission on December 4th
**Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh –** The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch the PSLV-C59 rocket carrying the European Space Agency’s (ESA) PROBA-3 mission on Wednesday, December 4th, at 4:06 PM from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. This will be the 61st flight of the PSLV and its 26th using the PSLV-XL configuration.
PROBA-3, a pioneering mission in precision formation flying, comprises two spacecraft – a Coronagraph and an Occulter – launched together to study the Sun’s corona. The approximately 550kg payload will be deployed into a highly elliptical orbit. The mission aims to demonstrate the precise formation flying capabilities required for such complex solar observations.
This launch highlights the continued reliability of India’s PSLV, a four-stage rocket with a total liftoff mass of around 320 tonnes, and showcases successful international collaboration between ISRO, ESA, and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL). The PSLV’s first successful launch was in October 1994, and it has previously carried a variety of satellites and payloads into space. The previous PSLV mission, PSLV-C58, launched the XPOSAT satellite on January 1, 2024.
PROBA-3 is described by ESA as the world’s first precision formation flying mission. It follows the recent launch of XPOSAT, India’s first dedicated scientific satellite for space-based polarisation measurements of X-ray emission.
First Piper 