Vigil

SpaceVigil

Vigil Mission

The Vigil Mission

The Vigil mission will be an operational space weather mission, with a goal to monitor the Sun from its unique position at the L5 Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system. This is a gravitationally stable point about 60° degrees behind the Earth in its orbit, allowing early warning of solar storms that are most impactful to the Earth and its critical infrastructure (power grids, aviation, navigation, transport, weather services and telecommunications).

The payload suite consists of a mixture of imaging and in situ sensing instruments provided by a mixture of European institutes and industrial partners. In addition to the European instruments, Vigil will bring two instruments from the USA, from NASA and NOAA, strengthening international collaboration.

The Vigil payload will consist of the following instruments:

  • Photospheric Magnetographic Imager (Germany), Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS)
  • Heliospheric Imager (Italy, Belgium), Leonardo SpA/CSL, Belgium
  • Compact Coronagraph (USA, NOAA), Naval Research Lab
  • Plasma Analyser (UK), Mullard Space Science Lab
  • Magnetometer (UK/Austria), Imperial College London/IWF Graz
  • Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) Imager ‘JEDI’ (USA, NASA), prime contractor under final selection

The mission will be the first of its kind and will give scientists a trove of new data for research, while simultaneously supporting Vigil’s ability to monitor space weather. It is planned to launch the Vigil mission in 2031.

Source and credits: ESA, NASA, PMOD/WRC

PMOD/WRC Involvement

PMOD/WRC Involvement: JEDI Instrument

NASA announced a Focused Mission of Opportunity (FMO) investigation for a remote sensing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) imager instrument to be hosted on ESA’s Vigil mission. Vigil will be located at the L5 Lagrange point (see Figure 1) in Space. The proposal selected in May 2024 is the EUV coronal Diagnostic Investigation (JEDI) led by Don Hassler from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI; Boulder, USA). JEDI will capture images of the Sun in extreme ultraviolet light, which will distinctly observe the Sun’s activity. The instrument design builds on years of experience of EUV imagers within the team including the most recent one – the EUV Imagers onboard the Solar Orbiter mission.

The imager will allow us to study extreme space weather events, and answer fundamental questions about the Ground State of Space Weather as well – this includes solar wind formation, coronal mass ejection acceleration and propagation. The EUV imager will coordinate with the magnetic field measurements and coronagraphic images to provide a full view of solar activity that has an impact on the Earth’s atmosphere.

JEDI has two telescopes – one of which will focus on the middle layer of the solar corona, a region of the Sun’s atmosphere that plays a key role in creating the solar wind and solar eruptions that cause space weather. The other telescope provides 24/7 coverage of the EUV solar activity.

PMOD/WRC is responsible for the development of the front-end electronics in the project, working closely with Centre Spatial de Liège (CSL; Belgium), which is responsible for the characterisation of the Active Pixel Sensor (APS). This collaboration is crucial as the camera forms the core of the telescope. Following a successful de-risking in 2024, which established a solid foundation, significant advancements have been made in the development of the front-end electronics and for the entire JEDI instrument during Phase A2/B. Progress has been made by a collaborative engineering effort with SwRI. This included defining the most critical requirements and the detailed development of the entire electro-mechanical and thermal interfaces with the telescope.

Source and credits: ESA, NASA, PMOD/WRC

Figure 1. The Vigil spacecraft will be positioned at the L5 Lagrange point in Space. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), on which PMOD/WRC have the VIRGO instrument, is located at L1. Image courtesy of ESA.

News & Info

News

Introducing: ESA Vigil

It’s the first mission of its kind, set to monitor our active and unpredictable Sun and help protect us from its violent outbursts . . .
ESA video, 10 Feb. 2022

Airbus to build ESA’s Vigil space weather forecasting mission

ESA has signed a contract with Airbus Defence & Space UK worth €340 million for the development of its Vigil satellite . . .
ESA, 22 May 2024

Information

Links

ESA Vigil Website

Main Collaboration Partners

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Swiss Scientific Contact

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Mission Facts

Mission Facts

Launch 2031
Launch rocket tbd
Orbit 5th Lagrange point
Nominal mission duration tbd
Extended mission duration tbd
PMOD/WRC instrument/involvement JEDI
Mass –
Dimensions –
Power consumption –
Funding –

 

Source and credits: ESA, NASA, PMOD/WRC