ESA Proba-3: Star Tiger Two Satellites working in Tandem

The two-satellite coronagraph will create a perpetual eclipse for observations of the solar corona.

The first 'occulter' spacecraft casts a perfectly controlled shadow onto the face of the second, carrying the mission instruments.

Proba-3 will be the first mission to fly such a 'giant external coronagraph'.

Bring together a small group of highly motivated researchers, grant them full access to laboratory and production facilities, remove all administrative distractions, and let them work intensively for four to six months. That's what 'StarTiger' is all about!

It is a different approach to conducting research and development that aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a new and promising technology within a very short time scale.

Within this initiative, ESA is running a six-month crash effort to design an instrument to operate between a pair of satellites flying in formation. One will cast a precisely-controlled shadow across the other to produce a perpetual solar eclipse, revealing parts of the Sun's corona usually hidden in sunlight.

ESA's latest StarTiger project is to create a complete working model of such a 'giant external coronagraph'. The effort began on 15 September, with a core team of seven multidisciplinary experts from France, Belgium, Greece and Italy based at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) in France, plus a 20-strong support team. Project hardware is being designed and manufactured, with testing due to begin early next year.

"StarTiger is an initiative within the Agency's Basic Technology Research Programme (TRP), aimed at facilitating breakthrough innovation," said Peter de Maagt, the project's manager. "It is innovative not just in terms of technology but also by changing the way research and development is done."

Eike Kircher, Head of ESA's TRP, added: "Researchers work together face-to-face, participating in a very dynamic design flow on a rapid turn-around basis. They also work against the clock, because at the end of the process they produce a complete instrument from scratch."

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