ESAs Proba-1 minisatellite, launched two decades ago, on October 27, completed 20 years.
Highlights
It is the oldest serving Earth-observing mission of the agency, and The minisatellite has survived fully operational for 20 years.
Proba-1 is approximately the size of a hotel fridge that hosts two Earth-observing instruments and several technological firsts.
It is the first in ESAs family of Project for On-Board Autonomy missions which started as a technology demonstration satellite and later became an Earth observation mission.
The proba-1 mission carries many low-cost, commercial-off-the-shelf systems and components.
It is seldom described as NewSpace before NewSpace as the mission delivers imagery to scientists worldwide.