alt.hn

3/22/2026 at 10:22:28 AM

'Miracle': Europe reconnects with lost spacecraft

 https://phys.org/news/2026-03-miracle-europe-reconnects-lost-spacecraft.html

by vrganj

3/22/2026 at 12:15:49 PM

> Proba-3, works just like a real solar eclipse. One spacecraft, which is roughly circular when viewed from the front, orbits closer to the sun, and its job is to block the bright parts of the sun, acting as the moon would in a real eclipse. It casts a shadow on a second probe that has a camera capable of photographing the resulting artificial eclipse.

> Having two separate spacecraft flying independently but in such a way that one casts a shadow on the other is a challenging task. But future missions depend on scientists figuring out how to make this precision choreography technology work, and so Proba-3 is a test.

Oh wow, they've potentially rescued this (very cool!) mission for both probes

by tetris11

3/22/2026 at 11:23:04 AM

I'm glad that this site at least left ~10% of the screen on my phone to read the article, next to all banners and newsletter ads. It's not 5%, great!

by touwer

3/22/2026 at 12:05:24 PM

I'm genuinely curious: I'm sure you know about the existence of ad blockers. They're not exactly new technology. I'm sure you also know that everyone here knows about ad blockers. So I'm genuinely wondering: what does it do for you to complain about the ads here? Especially in a way that some will no doubt take as you never having heard of ad blockers?

by Timwi

3/22/2026 at 1:26:16 PM

How do I get an as blocker onto the iPhone default browser?

by nikanj

3/22/2026 at 4:01:38 PM

I have used 1Blocker for years and it has worked great. There are many others all using the same principle. It also allows me to have a custom rule to disable JS entirely on some sites.

by arndt

3/22/2026 at 1:45:18 PM

There’s lots in the App Store.

by senordevnyc

3/22/2026 at 6:26:20 PM

I use Rethink app to block most of the ads and trackers. It works like VPN so with all apps, not just web browser.

Which means I have 100% of the screen available :)

by subscribed

3/22/2026 at 2:15:56 PM

You're getting 10% of content? I get 0% because of the impassible cloudflare wall.

by superkuh

3/22/2026 at 11:26:18 AM

Use U-Block origin. At this point I consider it a necessity for accessibility. I find it impossible to read anything with animated or video adverts. I truly cannot focus on the text. It's user-hostile, ableist, and content producers that continue using them can go fuck themselves. I have no ethical qualms about depriving them of revenue.

by messe

3/22/2026 at 12:02:08 PM

Question: does it actually deprive them of revenue even if I was never going to click on an ad anyway?

by Timwi

3/22/2026 at 12:14:46 PM

The ads delivery ecosystem billing is generally structured around impressions not click through rate (which depends a lot on the nature of the ad). So yes it does.

by varjag

3/22/2026 at 12:59:01 PM

Good.

by messe

3/22/2026 at 6:15:38 PM

can someone tell me the reason how that happen? it's not clear to me from the article, i mean the chain of reacyion part

by temphaaa

3/22/2026 at 6:46:20 PM

Am I the only one who cannot access this article?

I get: 400 Bad Request

Your request has been blocked by our server's security policies. What to do: If you believe this is an error, please contact our support team.

by anonymousiam

3/22/2026 at 3:12:34 PM

Now its time to reconnect with their Allies. THe west is waiting for EU

by TheOpenSourcer

3/22/2026 at 11:43:44 AM

The European Space Agency, not 'Europe'. Just as annoying as calling the EU Europe, and calling both Europe despite different membership is just confusing.

by graemep

3/22/2026 at 11:53:38 AM

Is metonymy really so unreasonable in this title?

by anonymars

3/22/2026 at 12:06:47 PM

You have it exactly right. I read the title the way it was intended and I think the complaint was pedantic.

by Timwi

3/22/2026 at 12:43:08 PM

I doubt there's anyone in the small group of people that actually need to care about the distinction between EU and ESA spacecraft who doesn't already know this is an ESA mission anyway, and if such a person exists they can probably read as far as the first four words...

by notahacker

3/22/2026 at 5:06:33 PM

In theory this could be about Roscosmos since they're based in Moscow

by ifwinterco

3/22/2026 at 12:00:54 PM

“North America puts man on the moon”

Yes. Yes it is.

by donohoe

3/22/2026 at 12:04:31 PM

Now let's evaluate "America puts man on moon"

by anonymars

3/22/2026 at 1:23:52 PM

Its a common term for the USA that has no other meaning. The content is North America, the two continents are the Americas. No ambiguity.

Europe properly means the continent so it is far more like saying "North America puts man on moon" than saying "America puts man on moon".

Ambiguity is always bad.

Some people say its clear, but I am sure a lot of others thought an EU agency reconnected with a spacecraft.

Its interesting that people get so upset about asking for correct and unambiguous language.

by graemep

3/22/2026 at 1:26:57 PM

“America” has no other meaning? So USA means United States of USA?

by wat10000

3/22/2026 at 2:44:55 PM

Exactly, their name is a zip bomb.

by margalabargala

3/22/2026 at 4:27:24 PM

Doing recursive acronyms centuries before it was cool.

by wat10000

3/22/2026 at 1:58:22 PM

> Its a common term for the USA that has no other meaning

Except, you know, the only “other” meaning of “America” is just literally the alternative name for Americas, both continents. Here is an obscure link to the description [0]. Even if you want to refer to North America, what about Mexico and Canada?

The less you know, the less ambiguous it is.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas

by close04

3/22/2026 at 12:05:37 PM

Didn't think it was possible, but yes, you made it even worse.

by embedding-shape

3/22/2026 at 12:20:33 PM

A good title is brief and clear.

"'Miracle': European Space Agency reconnects with lost spacecraft" is long.

"'Miracle': ESA reconnects with lost spacecraft" is opaque.

The first four words of the article are, "The European Space Agency..."

by anonymars

3/22/2026 at 2:35:42 PM

ESA is one of the largest space agencies in the world. There’s nothing opaque about calling it ESA especially in a title. We wouldn’t use initialisms if everything had to be expanded all the time.

by close04

3/22/2026 at 1:28:00 PM

Life is more enjoyable if you put your focus on understanding what’s being said rather than policing how it’s said.

by wat10000

3/22/2026 at 2:18:04 PM

It's such an interesting mission too, keeping the spacecraft synchronized enough with incredible precision so that one can cast a shadow in just the right place on the other, all while the orbital mechanics of gravity are constantly insisting otherwise

"Given the diameter of the occulter disk on the OSC and the intended corona observation regions, the CSC must be approximately 150 meters from the OSC and maintain this position with millimetric accuracy, both in range and laterally"

by anonymars

3/22/2026 at 12:22:18 PM

"America landed on the moon" vs "NASA landed on the moon".

by vrganj

3/22/2026 at 2:15:29 PM

it was a great accomplishment, all of NASA getting there and at the same time!!

Personally not a fan of this sort of pedantry.

by bryanrasmussen