This news

June 16th 2025 marks a major milestone for the European Space Agency’s Proba-3 mission as it unveils its first images of the solar corona, i.e the Sun’s outer atmosphere. As one of the main Proba-3 partners, SPACEBEL took part in the event that was organised for the occasion in the ESA exhibition pavilion at the Paris Air Show. 
Captured during the mission’s first-ever artificial total solar eclipse in space, this remarkable achievement demonstrates not only the scientific value of the mission, but also the technical potential of autonomous formation flying in space.  
Composed of a pair of satellites flying in precise formation, Proba-3 successfully recreated the conditions of a solar eclipse, allowing unprecedented observations of the normally hidden corona.

Earlier this year, Proba-3 accomplished a feat never before achieved: its two spacecraft—the coronagraph and the occulter—flew 150 metres apart in perfect alignment for several hours without any intervention on the ground. They maintained their relative positions with millimetre-level precision, enabled by a suite of advanced navigation and positioning technologies. SPACEBEL’s on-board software managing and controlling all Proba-3 systems is also playing a major role in the operations and autonomy of Proba-3’s formation flying. Thanks to the VTS tool (Visualization Tool for Space data) developed by SPACEBEL for and with CNES, this precision “space dance” was simulated on the ground  months before the Proba-3 departure into Space on December 5th 2024.

The precise alignment between both spacecraft allows the occulter to block the sun’s bright surface, creating an artificial eclipse for the coronagraph to observe the faint solar corona. The resulting images offer valuable insights into solar phenomena like flares and coronal mass ejections, enhancing our understanding of space weather and its possible impacts on essential infrastructure here on Earth.

As an industrial core team member of the international Proba-3 consortium under the leadership of prime contractor Sener (Spain), SPACEBEL has been a proud contributor to Proba-3’s success for many years. SPACEBEL developed the ground segment software, the on-board software piloting Proba-3’s pair of platforms and communicating with the payloads as well as the satellites’ simulator supporting the software testing and operation preparation.

In addition to the prestige of this pioneering space mission, Proba-3 is a wonderful acknowledgment of the SPACEBEL know-how and our constant striving to deliver mission critical software solutions that are perfectly compliant with our customers’ needs and expectations.