PROBA (Project for On-Board Autonomy), renamed PROBA-1, is a Belgian satellite technology demonstration mission launched atop an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle by ISRO on 22 October 2001.[1][2] The satellite was funded through the ESA's MicroSat and General Study Program with the objective of addressing issues regarding on-board operational autonomy of a generic satellite platform.[3][4] This small (60×60×80 cm; 95 kg) boxlike system, with solar panel collectors on its surface, hosts two Earth Observation instruments dubbed CHRIS and HRC. CHRIS is a hyperspectral system (200 narrow bands) that images at 17 m resolution, while HRC is a monochromatic camera that images visible light at 5 m resolution.[5]
With an initial lifetime of one to two years, the satellite celebrated its 20th year of operations in 2021.[5] On 9 March 2018, it surpassed ERS-2 as ESA's longest operated Earth observation mission of all time.[6] ESA aims to deorbit the satellite through the ClearSpace-1 mission in 2026.[7]
Series of satellites
PROBA is also the name of the series of satellites starting with PROBA-1. The name is also used to refer to the bus of the satellites.
The second satellite in the PROBA series, PROBA-2, was launched on 2 November 2009 together with the SMOS satellite.
The third satellite to be launched was PROBA-V (PROBA-Vegetation), on 7 May 2013.
Further planned satellites in the PROBA series include the formation flying demonstration mission PROBA-3 and limb sounder ALTIUS.
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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