Proba-3 faced propulsion issue; ESA trying software fix to launch on Thursday

European Space Agency (ESA) teams at Redu, Belgium are trying to perform a software tweak to fix the ongoing issue with their Proba-3 satellite, the launch of which has been put on hold at the Indian spaceport in Sriharikota. Barely 50 minutes before the planned liftoff at IST 4:08 pm, Wednesday (Dec 4), aboard the ISRO PSLV rocket, the launch mission was put on hold due to an anomaly with the European-made satellite.

ISRO says that the launch has been rescheduled to 16:04 hrs Indian time, Thursday, as per a request from the European Space Agency. Subject to the resolution of the issue, ISRO and ESA are now looking at 4:04 pm IST, Thursday (Dec 5), as the backup launch date. 

According to ESA, during Proba3’s pre-launch preparations at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, an anomaly occurred in the redundant propulsion system of the Coronagraph Spacecraft. Proba-3 comprises two crafts – the Occulter and the Coronagraph. 

This redundant propulsion system (in which an anomaly is observed), is responsible for ensuring that the satellite points in the right direction while in space and can remain in the desired orientation (which side faces which way). 

For example, an earth-imaging satellite must point its cameras and sensors toward the Earth. In the case of Proba-3, the twin satellites must face the sun. 

According to ESA, 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 (Dec 5). 

Also read: ISRO postpones PSLV-XL Proba-3 mission launch to Thursday due to anomaly

What is Proba-3? 

Proba-3 belongs to the European Space Agency, which represents 22 European nations. The twin Proba-3 satellites were built by a host of European firms, and the satellites were tested in Europe before being flown to India. 

Proba-3 is a project more than 10 years in the making, which has been implemented with the industrial support of more than 40 companies across Europe, under the leadership of a core team of companies in Spain and Belgium, such as Sener Aerospace (System Prime), Redwire Space (avionics, satellite assembly and testing, satellite operations), Airbus Defence and Space (satellite thermo-mechanical and propulsion, satellite environmental testing), GMV (formation flying algorithm and software, on-ground flight dynamics system), Spacebel (on-board, ground system and simulation software), and Centre Spatial de Liège (Coronagraph scientific instrument). 

After arriving at the ISRO spaceport, the satellites were tested, integrated, and fuelled at the Indian spaceport by European teams. 

The anomaly with the satellite was observed during the countdown to the launch when crucial health checks of the rocket systems and satellite systems were conducted. 

For this mission, ISRO is the launch service provider (responsible for the rocket and its launch), while the European Space Agency is responsible for the satellite, its functioning, and tracking. 

This is a commercial mission where the European Space Agency is paying the launch cost of approximately $30 million to NewSpace India Ltd., the commercial arm of ISRO.