Airbus UK to build Vigil satellite to monitor Sun storms
The UK has been pushing for a number of years to get its European partners to agree to the Vigil mission. The existing satellite fleet is ageing and is in urgent need of an overhaul.
The Americans are part of this renewal push. They will be launching a satellite next year called Space Weather Follow On (SWFO), external that will take up the conventional observing position just in front of the Earth.
One of the key instruments the US will provide for both missions is a coronagraph, a device that blocks out the glare of the full Sun to allow processes taking place near the solar surface to be seen more easily.
“Coronagraphs tell us about how a CME is developing near the surface, and then we’ll also have a heliospheric imager which will track the CME as it moves through space towards Earth, giving us a much better idea of how long it will take to arrive,” explained Dr Michelle Sprake, the Airbus lead systems engineer on Vigil.
