Satellites Launched to Create Artificial Solar Eclipses

Facts

The European Space Agency successfully launched two satellites from India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Wednesday, marking the beginning of a $210M mission to create artificial solar eclipses in space.^[1]^[2]
The Proba-3 mission consists of two cube-shaped spacecraft that will fly in precise formation 492 feet (150 meters) apart, with one satellite casting a shadow on the other to block the sun's glare, requiring accuracy within one millimeter.^[3]^[4]
Each artificial eclipse will last up to six hours, significantly longer than natural eclipses. This will allow scientists to study the sun's corona and its mysteries — including why the corona is hotter than the sun's surface.^[5]^[6]
The satellites will orbit Earth in an elliptical path ranging from about 370 miles (600 kilometers) to over 37K miles (60K kilometers) above the surface, taking nearly 20 hours to complete each orbit.^[7]^[8]
The mission will utilize GPS systems, star trackers, lasers, and radio links to maintain autonomous precision flying between the spacecraft.^[9]
After completing their two-year mission studying solar phenomena, both satellites will gradually lower their orbits until they burn up in Earth's atmosphere within five years.^[3]^[10]

Narrative A, as provided by Guardian. The groundbreaking mission represents a technological triumph that will revolutionize solar research by providing unprecedented access to study the sun's corona while demonstrating advanced formation flying capabilities that could enable future large-scale space observatories.
Narrative B, as provided by Washington Post. The expensive mission carries significant risks due to the extreme precision required for formation flying, and the artificial eclipses won't be visible from Earth, limiting public engagement and direct verification of mission success.