European Satellites Create Artificial Solar Eclipses for Scientific Study

In a groundbreaking achievement for space science, two European satellites have successfully created artificial solar eclipses, mimicking the celestial phenomenon with unprecedented precision. This innovative mission, known as Proba-3, launched in late 2024, aims to provide researchers with extended opportunities to observe the solar corona, the sun's outer atmosphere, in ways previously unattainable.

The European Space Agency (ESA) showcased the remarkable capabilities of the Proba-3 mission during the Paris Air Show on June 16, 2025. The two satellites, flying approximately 492 feet (150 meters) apart, are designed to block sunlight in a manner akin to the moon's position during a natural total solar eclipse. As one satellite obscures the sun, the other utilizes a telescope to capture images of the corona, which appears as a halo of light surrounding the sun. This operation, which requires extreme accuracy, achieves positional fidelity within a millimeter, or the thickness of a fingernail.

According to Andrei Zhukov, the lead scientist from the Royal Observatory of Belgium, Proba-3 has successfully generated 10 artificial solar eclipses since its operational phase began in March 2025, with the longest eclipse lasting an impressive five hours. Zhukov emphasized the significance of this achievement, stating, "We almost couldn’t believe our eyes. This was the first try, and it worked. It was so incredible."

The mission, which has a budget of $210 million, is expected to produce an average of two solar eclipses per week, potentially totaling nearly 200 eclipses over the course of its two-year mission. Zhukov anticipates that these eclipses will yield over 1,000 hours of totality, a remarkable increase compared to the few minutes of totality provided by natural solar eclipses, which occur roughly every 18 months.

The sun remains an enigmatic subject for scientists, particularly concerning the corona, which is surprisingly hotter than the sun's surface. Understanding the corona is critical, as coronal mass ejections can release significant amounts of plasma and magnetic fields into space, leading to geomagnetic storms that can disrupt power and communication systems on Earth.

Previous missions, including ESA's Solar Orbiter and NASA's Soho observatory, have attempted to simulate solar eclipses, but they utilized configurations where both the eclipse-generating disk and the corona-observing telescope were mounted on the same spacecraft. Proba-3's unique design, with these components located on separate satellites, allows for enhanced observational capabilities. Zhukov noted, "The distance between these two satellites will give scientists a better look at the part of the corona closest to the limb of the sun."

Damien Galano, mission manager at ESA, expressed satisfaction with the quality of the images produced thus far, attributing this success to the unprecedented accuracy of formation flying. As the Proba-3 mission continues, scientists hope to unlock further mysteries of the solar corona, contributing to a broader understanding of solar phenomena and their impacts on Earth's environment.

The Proba-3 mission represents a significant advancement in space exploration and astrophysics, marking a new chapter in our ability to study the sun and its effects on our planet. As the mission progresses, the scientific community eagerly anticipates the findings that will emerge from this innovative approach to solar observation.