European satellites launched to create artificial solar eclipses in a tech demo

A pair of European satellites has rocketed into orbit on a mission to create artificial solar eclipses. The launch took place from India on Thursday. It's the first mission to create artificial solar eclipses through high-precision formation flying in space. The European Space Agency expects each fake eclipse to last six hours once operations begin next year. That's considerably longer than the few minutes of totality offered by a natural eclipse here on Earth. Scientists say the extra time will allow for prolonged study of the sun's corona, or outer atmosphere.