PROBA-1 reached a 25-year milestone

PROBA-1 reached a 25-year milestone. The mission is associated with the date 2001-10 and an intended mission duration of 2 years, and it remains active but no longer provides imagery.

The recorded milestone covers 25 years. PROBA-1 was intended to operate for 2 years, is active, no longer provides imagery and is used to test algorithms and telecommands.

PROBA-1's record includes the dates 2001-10 and 2022-12.

The mission is credited with 1000 images and 1000 sites. Its monitoring covered environmental concerns, land use strategies and vegetation growth, and alpine snow cover.

The PROBA-1 program record includes 1998, and funding is listed as ESA's General Support Technology Programme. The mission demonstrated new hardware and software spacecraft technologies and onboard operational autonomy, and carried Earth observation and space environment instruments.

PROBA-1 began ESA's PROBA series, and the series record lists Proba-2, Proba-V and Proba-3. Redwire's team in Belgium was prime contractor for PROBA-1, and this was its first mission prime. The original PROBA-1 team still includes 20 employees working at Redwire's Belgium facility.

PROBA-1 shows a spacecraft can remain active beyond its intended 2-year duration, even though it no longer provides imagery. Its continued use for algorithm and telecommand tests shows a long-lived mission can still support testing.

For readers tracking the lunar industry, the record shows Redwire and its Belgium facility with long-duration mission involvement and prime-contractor roles across ESA, Belgian Defence and a European Commission mission.