ESA Proba-2 Tracks Sun Surging Into Space

Proba-2 is an experimental ESA micro-satellite carrying four solar physics and space weather instruments and a total of 17 new technology payloads.

Proba-2 is a small but innovative member of ESA's spacecraft fleet, crammed with experimental technologies. In its first eight months of life it has already returned more than 90 000 images of the Sun.

Less than a cubic metre in volume, Proba-2 carries a new generation of miniaturised science instruments, focused on the Sun and space weather, as well as 17 state-of-the-art technology payloads.

Launched on 2 November 2009, Proba-2 began routine operations in February. A workshop at ESA's ESTEC research and technology centre in the Netherlands on 22 June highlighted the microsatellite's initial achievements.

"We're getting very good results," remarked John Jorgensen of Technical University of Denmark, which contributed the mission's Micro Advanced Stellar Compass, a miniaturised startracker.

"This kind of platform works very well to provide in-flight demonstration of new technologies."