The European Space Agency (ESA) has lost contact with the Coronagraph spacecraft of its Proba-3 mission following a power failure.
Proba-3 is the first mission to use precision formation flying to study the corona, the Sun's outer atmosphere. It was placed in orbit in December 2024 by ISRO's PSLV-C59 rocket. The mission pairs two satellites: the Coronagraph, which carries the camera, and the Occulter, which blocks the solar disc to create an artificial eclipse. It studies solar winds and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), which can disrupt satellites and power grids.