The European Space Agency (ESA) has restored contact with its Coronagraph spacecraft weeks after communications were lost following an anomaly.
As part of the Proba-3 mission, two spacecraft – Coronagraph and Occulter – were launched in late 2024 with a mission to study the Sun’s corona in depth to gain a greater understanding of the inner workings of our closest star. The two craft worked together, with Occulter blocking out the brightest parts of the Sun’s disk, allowing the Coronagraph to study its faint outer atmosphere without being blinded.
But an anomaly in February caused Coronagraph to lose orientation and drift away from Occulter. It also failed to enter safe mode. The incident led scientists at the ESA to fear they would never recover control over the spacecraft. The agency had previously managed to locate it using optical and radar data processed by its Space Debris Office, but it appeared to have entered survival mode, unable to regain communications with ground control.
Yesterday...