The mission aims to capture new images of our solar system’s central star. On board the 1.8-ton Solar Orbiter, which has cost ESA and the American organization NASA about 1.5 billion euros, are ten scientific instruments. The researchers hope to learn more about the sun and the magnetic field with this.
The equipment onboard the spacecraft not only measures the electromagnetic fields and the solar particles, but can also get a closer than ever to the sun. After launching in February 2020, the Orbiter flew past a distance of 77 million kilometers in June of that year and captured images of enigmatic “campfires” on the star, much smaller than the solar flares seen from Earth.
The spacecraft’s current elliptical orbit won’t change much for the next three years. Every six months, the Orbiter comes very close. In October, the distance will be only 42 million kilometers. The temperature on site is more than 500 degrees Celsius. For protection, the probe is equipped with a large titanium heat shield.