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Sun-watching Proba-2 keeps small eye on Earth 
While ESA’s Proba-2 keeps its main instruments trained on the Sun, it is also looking back to its homeworld. This wide-angle view of Earth comes from an experimental camera that is smaller than an espresso cup. The Exploration Camera (X-Cam) is carried on the underside of Proba-2, one of 17 new technologies being tested by the mini-satellite. Observing in the visible and near-infrared with a 100° field-of–view, its monochrome images resemble what an astronaut might see if elevated to Proba-2’s 800 km orbit.
The image shows southern Argentina including Buenos Aires (top left) and the Rio Negro river.
“X-Cam has a lot of components, capability and embedded intelligence we need to test,” said Stephane Beauvivre of Micro-Cameras & Space Exploration.
“The opportunity to fly in this way aboard Proba-2 is very valuable. In our business, the only real technology demonstrations are in space – not guesses or ground tests but actual spaceflight.”
Similar compact imagers could in future keep watch on satellite surfaces to look out for damage or environmental effects. Micro-Cameras & Space Exploration will also fly cameras on ESA's ExoMars and BepiColombo science missions.
And in 2014 their miniature imager on Rosetta’s lander should provide us with our closest view yet of a comet’s surface.
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