14-03-2022 | 15:32 PM
Introducing ESA Vigil: Earth’s devoted solar defender
It’s the first mission of its kind, set to monitor our active and unpredictable Sun and help protect us from its violent outburst.
The mission will give us advance warning of oncoming solar storms and therefore more time to protect spacecraft in orbit, infrastructure on the ground and explorers now and in the future, unshielded by Earth's magnetic field and vulnerable to our star's violent outbursts.
This mission plans to position two spacecraft in the L1 and L5 Lagrangian points.
Since L1 is located in the solar wind ‘upstream’ from Earth, measurements at the L1 will provide information about the space weather approaching Earth.
L5 point allows the tracking of coronal mass ejections from the side in order to assess their speed and direction.
Lagrange Points
Lagrange points are positions in space where objects sent there tend to stay put.
The gravitational forces of a two-body system, such as the Sun and the Earth, produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion at Lagrange Points in space.
Spacecrafts use these points to reduce the amount of fuel needed to remain in position.
