A pair of satellites launched by the European Space Agency on Thursday will create the first artificial solar eclipses, allowing scientists to study the sun's outer atmosphere for longer periods over the next two years as the spacecraft duo flies hundreds of feet apart in Earth's orbit.
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To create the artificial solar eclipses, the Proba-3 satellites will need to maintain a specific position within one millimeter, or a distance equivalent to the thickness of a fingernail, according to the ESA. The satellites -- less than 5 feet wide -- rely on GPS, star trackers, lasers and radio links to fly autonomously.
The artificial solar eclipses created by the Proba-3 satellites will not be visible from Earth, according to the ESA. Images from the eclipses, which will be created up to twice a week starting in March 2025, will be released by the agency, however.
The ESA announced the Proba-3 mission in 2014, which is the agency's fourth flight in a series of low-cost orbital missions. Proba-3, which the agency estimates cost about $210 million, comes after the Proba-V mission that launched in 2012 to map Earth's vegetation. The Proba-2 mission launched in 2009 with more than 20 payloads to study the sun from Earth's orbit, while the Proba-1 satellite launched in 2001 to observe Earth. ESA said Proba-3's goal of attaining a precise orbit will open "up a whole new era for science and applications" and would result in new missions that could be "assembled on a much larger scale."