Electronics Weekly Electronics Design & Components Tech News
The aim of the Vigil mission is to provide more accurate warning of impending solar storms, both to help protect satellites in space and also electronics on Earth.
Specifically, the spacecraft will give extra warning about incoming solar storms and coronal mass ejections, which can potentially disrupt satellites in orbit and electronic and power distribution systems on Earth.
The spacecraft will be positioned at Lagrange point L5 on the same orbit as the Earth, 150 million km behind it as the Earth orbits the Sun. This will enable Vigil to see the Sun as it rotates, and see the size and speed of solar weather heading towards the Earth.
Data from Vigil could provide notice of four to five days of solar winds streaming toward Earth, says Airbus.
“Vigil is one of the most exciting and important space missions that will not only improve our understanding of the Sun’s behaviour but crucially provide us with earlier warning and greater precision about potentially damaging solar weather,” said Patrick Wood, Head of Space Systems UK, Airbus Defence and Space.
“Space weather forecasters will be able to see what is coming from the Sun and provide more accurate alerts.”
Vigil will be the first operational mission in ESA’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Space Safety Programme (S2P).
“Vigil will be Europe’s first 24/7 operational space weather satellite, providing valuable time to protect critical infrastructure such as power grids or mobile communication networks on Earth as well as valuable satellites in Earth orbit, including the International Space Station ISS,” said Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General.
“Vigil will drastically improve both the lead time of space weather warnings as well as their level of detail from its unique vantage point in deep space.”
Image: Airbus – Vigil spacecraft
See also: JPL, Airbus continue with GRACE-C to measure Earth’s gravity field
