Mission info

Scheduled for (UTC) 2024-12-05, 10:34
Scheduled for (local) 2024-12-05, 16:04 (IST)
Launch site First Launch Pad, Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India
Launch Vehicle PSLV-XL
Payloads PROBA-3
Payload mass 550.0 kg
Mission success criteria Successful delivery of payloads to desired orbit

Webcasts

Stream Link
ISRO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJXXLLw0PBI
Space Affairs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvXH4LkC5Xo
Spaceflight Now https://www.youtube.com/@SpaceflightNowVideo/streams
The Launch Pad https://www.youtube.com/@TheLaunchPad/streams
The Space Devs

Stats

Sourced from NextSpaceflight:

☑️ 2nd SLV mission this year, 61st overall

☑️ 4th ISRO mission this year, 95th overall

Mission details

PROBA-3 will be composed of two independent, three-axis stabilized spacecraft flying 150 meters from one another with the ability to accurately control the attitude and separation of the two craft. It will be maintained for 6 hours, creating ″artificial solar eclipse″ for the satellite below. The spacecraft pair will fly a highly elliptical orbit divided between periods of accurate formation flying around apogee, when payload operations will be possible, and periods of free flight. The length of the formation control period will be a trade-off involving the increasing amount of fuel needed to maintain the orbits in formation when away from apogee.

    • threelonmusketeersOPMEnglish
      2·
      18 days ago

      Thanks! I’ve updated the dateful link in the main post.

      Edited to add:

      Link to tweet from ISRO: https://x.com/isro/status/1864245517234139445

      Update from Josef Aschbacher: https://x.com/AschbacherJosef/status/1864283463232246264

      During Proba3’s pre-launch preparations at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India, an anomaly in the redundant propulsion system of the Coronagraph Spacecraft occurred. This propulsion system is part of the attitude and orbit control subsystem of the satellite and used to maintain orientation and pointing in space.

      The anomaly is currently under detailed investigation. The use of a software solution by the mission control team at @ESA’s ESEC centre at Redu, Belgium is being evaluated to allow a launch on Thursday 5 December at 11:34 CET (10:34 GMT, 16:04 local time). #Proba3

      Not too much info on the anomaly, but now we know it is a propulsion system issue.