PSLV-C59/PROBA-3 Mission Set for Launch by ISRO on Thursday Afternoon

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is scheduled to launch the PSLV-C59/PROBA-3 mission on Thursday at 4:04 p.m.The spacecraft will be carried by the PSLV-C59 vehicle into a highly elliptical orbit as a dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited. (NSIL).
The mission launch that was scheduled for Wednesday did not take place due to an anomaly detected in the PROBA-3 spacecraft.
The city witnessed light drizzles in the morning.
The PSLV-C59 is a joint initiative between ISRO and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL).
Proba-3 is a technology demonstration mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). Proba-3 is ESA’s and the world’s first precision formation-flying mission. A pair of satellites will fly together, maintaining a fixed configuration as if they were a single large rigid structure in space, to prove innovative formation flying and rendezvous technologies.
As per the ESA, the mission will demonstrate formation flying in the context of a large-scale science experiment. The two satellites will together form an approximately 150-m long solar coronagraph to study the Sun’s faint corona closer to the solar rim than has ever before been achieved.
Besides its scientific interest, the experiment will be a perfect instrument to measure the achievement of the precise positioning of the two spacecraft. It will be enabled using a wide variety of new technologies.
Proba-3 will function as an orbital laboratory, demonstrating acquisition, rendezvous, proximity operations and formation flying, while validating innovative metrology sensors and control algorithms, opening up novel methods of mission control. The two satellites will adopt a fixed configuration in space, 150m apart while lined up with the Sun so that OSC blocks out the brilliant solar disk for the CSC. This will open up continuous views of the Sun’s faint corona, or surrounding atmosphere, for scientific observation.
Taking to social media X, ISRO wrote in a post “PSLV-C59/PROBA-3 Mission Update:
“Countdown Commenced! Liftoff Time: 16:04 IST, 5th Dec 2024Stay tuned as PSLV-C59 prepares to deploy ESA’s Proba-3 satellites into orbit”
Earlier on Wednesday, ISRO had taken to social media X to announce the postponement of the launch.
“PSLV-C59/PROBA-3 Mission Update: The launch has been rescheduled. Set your clocks as we prepare to make history:Date: 5th December 2024Time: 16:04 IST
Countdown updates and mission milestones will keep you connected as we approach T-minus zero. Stay tuned for this momentous event!
Liftoff: 5th Dec 2024, 16:04 IST, Location: SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota”
The PSLVC-59 will have four stages of launch, according to ISRO. The total mass which the launch vehicle will be lifting off is around 320 tonnes.
The PROBA-3 is an “In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) mission” by the European Space Agency (ESA).