Aditya-L1 and Proba-3 Advance Coronal Mass Ejection Studies

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Key takeaways

Scientists combined data from India's Aditya-L1 and ESA's Proba-3 to study the early evolution, energy distribution, and density of solar Coronal Mass Ejections.
Aditya-L1 operates in a halo orbit around Lagrangian point 1 (L1), enabling uninterrupted observation of the Sun without eclipses.
Launched by ISRO's PSLV-C59 in 2024, the Proba-3 mission features two satellites flying precisely 150 meters apart to simulate an artificial solar eclipse.
Earth-directed CMEs trigger geomagnetic storms that can disrupt orbiting satellites, threaten space crews, and generate atmospheric auroras at polar latitudes.

Scientists have jointly analyzed Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) close to the Sun using combined data from India's Aditya-L1 and the European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission.

The Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) on board Aditya-L1 provided crucial spectroscopic data of the solar activity.
The ASPIICS coronagraph on the Proba-3 spacecraft delivered high-resolution imagery of the inner solar corona.

Combining data from both spacecraft allowed researchers to calculate the mass, density, shape, dynamics, and energy of CMEs with higher accuracy than a single satellite could achieve.
The observation revealed that the two solar eruptions had distinct expansion patterns and energy distributions, offering fresh insight into the early development of CMEs.

Aditya-L1 is India's pioneer space-based observatory mission designed exclusively to monitor and study solar dynamics.
ISRO stationed the spacecraft in a halo orbit surrounding the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) within the Sun-Earth system.
Positioning the spacecraft at the L1 point allows it to observe the Sun continuously without any interruption from eclipses or occultation.

Proba-3 is a European Space Agency (ESA) project recognized as the world's first mission to demonstrate precision formation flying.
An ISRO PSLV-C59 rocket successfully launched the Proba-3 spacecraft into space in 2024.
The mission uses two separate satellites flying exactly 150 meters apart to create an artificial solar eclipse, enabling detailed study of the faint solar corona.

Coronal Mass Ejections are massive expulsions of magnetized plasma and solar material into space, which often accompany solar flares.
These solar events occur when unstable magnetic fields on the Sun snap and release trapped plasma, occurring most frequently during a solar maximum.
When CMEs travel toward Earth, they can damage satellite electronics, imperil astronauts in orbit, and cause major geomagnetic storms via magnetic reconnection.
This reconnection process drives charged particles into Earth's upper atmosphere near the poles, creating vibrant atmospheric light displays known as auroras.