For the first time, two spacecraft in orbit were aligned in formation with millimeter precision and maintained their relative position for several hours without any control from the ground. The ...

Formation flying looks smooth and effortless from the outside. Inside the cockpit, it’s constant concentration, tiny ...

Two spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency launched on top of an Indian rocket Thursday, kicking off a mission to test novel formation flying technologies and observe a rarely seen slice of ...

A pair of spacecraft just launched to create hundreds of artificial solar eclipses in orbit. The European Space Agency mission, called Proba-3, will allow scientists “to see an eclipse on demand,” as ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: ESA — P. Carril, ...

Generally speaking, space missions are being performed with lone spacecraft heading out into the void to achieve the desired goal of their makers. Sure, these machines might release other, smaller ...

A pair of European satellites have created the first artificial solar eclipses by flying in precise and fancy formation, providing hours of on-demand totality for scientists. The European Space Agency ...

The Sun’s inner corona appears greenish in this image taken on 23 May 2025 by the ASPIICS coronagraph aboard Proba-3, ESA’s formation-flying mission capable of creating artificial total solar eclipses ...