A new spacecraft is journeying to the Sun to snap the first pictures of the Sun’s north and south poles.
Who is doing this?
Solar Orbiter is an international cooperative mission between the European Space Agency and NASA.
ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in The Netherlands manages the development effort.
The European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Germany will operate Solar Orbiter after launch.
Who build the Solar Orbiter?
Solar Orbiter was built by Airbus Defense and Space, and contains 10 instruments: nine provided by ESA member states and ESA.
NASA provided one instrument suite, SoloHI and provided detectors and hardware for three other instruments.
Where and How is it happening?
Launching on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, the spacecraft will use Venus’s and Earth’s gravity to swing itself out of the ecliptic plane — the swath of space, roughly aligned with the Sun’s equator, where all planets orbit.
From there, Solar Orbiter’s bird’s eye view will give it the first-ever look at the Sun’s poles.
After years of technology development, it will be the closest any Sun-facing cameras have ever gotten to the Sun.
What does Sun do for us?
The Sun plays a central role in shaping space aroundus.
Its massive magnetic field stretches far beyond Pluto, paving a superhighway for charged solar particles known as the solar wind.
When bursts of solar wind hit Earth, they can spark space weather storms that interfere with our GPS and communications satellites — at their worst, they can even threaten astronauts.
Why do we need to study Sun?
To prepare for arriving solar storms, scientists monitor the Sun’s magnetic field.
But their techniques work best with a straight-on view; the steeper the viewing angle, the noisier the data.
The sidelong glimpse we get of the Sun’s poles from within the ecliptic plane leaves major gaps in the data.
Why Sun’s Poles?
The Sun’s poles may also explain centuries-old observations. In 1843, German astronomer Samuel Heinrich Schwabe discovered that the number of sunspots — dark blotches on the Sun’s surface marking strong magnetic fields — waxes and wanes in a repeating pattern.
Today, we know it as the approximately-11-year solar cycle in which the Sun transitions between solar maximum, when sunspots proliferate and the Sun is active and turbulent, and solar minimum, when they’re fewer and it’s calmer. “But we don’t understand why it’s 11 years, or why some solar maximums are stronger than others”.
Observing the changing magnetic fields of the poles could offer an answer.
Have we reached Sun yet?
The only prior spacecraft to fly over the Sun’s poles was also a joint ESA/NASA venture. Launched in 1990, the Ulysses spacecraft made three passes around our star before it was decommissioned in 2009.
But Ulysses never got closer than Earth-distance to the Sun, and only carried what’s known as in situ instruments — like the sense of touch, they measure the space environment immediately around the spacecraft.
General Trivia
Solar Orbiter will be NASA’s second major mission to the inner solar system in recent years, following on August 2018’s launch of Parker Solar Probe.
Parker has completed four close solar passes and will fly within four million miles of the Sun at closest approach.
Over the mission’s seven year lifetime, Solar Orbiter will reach an inclination of 24 degrees above the Sun’s equator, increasing to 33 degrees with an additional three years of extended mission operations. At closest approach the spacecraft will pass within 26 million milesof theSun.
Quick Recap
Solar Orbiter-- By European Space Agency and NASA on United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket—lifetime of seven years
It will use Venus’s and Earth’s gravity to swing.
Solar Orbiter was built by AirBus Defense and Space.
European Space Research and Technology Centre- Developmental efforts; European Space Operations Center (ESOC)- operate after launch
Ulysses spacecraft-- Joint venture of ESA and NASA--First mission to Sun
Parker Solar Probe-by NASA- on August 2018-- first-ever mission to "touch" the Sun--on Delta IV-Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral
