Work ongoing to restore contact with Proba-3's Coronagraph

During the weekend of 14–15 February 2026, an anomaly onboard Proba-3's Coronagraph spacecraft triggered a chain reaction that led to the progressive loss of attitude (spacecraft orientation) and prevented its expected entry into safe mode. 

Because the spacecraft’s solar panel was no longer facing the Sun, the onboard battery started to discharge quickly. This caused the spacecraft to enter survival mode, when minimal electronics stay active and data transmission to the ground is interrupted. 

The exact root cause of the anomaly is under investigation, and mission teams and operators have joined forces to attempt to re-establish contact with the spacecraft to recover the situation. 

One of their priorities is to investigate how the mission's Occulter spacecraft, which remains healthy and operational, could safely approach the Coronagraph and observe its orientation in space to support the recovery efforts. 

Follow the Proba-3 blog for regular updates. 

About Proba-3

Proba-3 is the European Space Agency's first eclipse-making mission. The mission consists of two satellites – the Coronagraph and the Occulter. Since their launch in December 2024, the satellite duo has claimed not one, but two world firsts – the first precise formation flight, setting the mission up for its first artificial solar eclipse in orbit. 

After having achieved all of its technology goals, the mission has completed more than 60 extremely accurate formation flying orbits so far, during which it was able to observe the highly dynamic inner region of the Sun's corona. By providing scientists with hours of science data per orbit, Proba-3 has accomplished a major feat in space-based solar and heliophysics research. 

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