This article is about the European Space Agency heliophysics orbiter. For NASA's in-situ heliophysics orbiter, see Parker Solar Probe.
European space-based solar observatory
Solar Orbiter
Artist's impression of the Solar Orbiter orbiting the Sun
Mission type
Solar heliophysics orbiter
Operator
ESA / NASA
COSPAR ID
2020-010A
SATCAT no.
45167
Website
www.esa.int
Mission duration
7 years (nominal) + 3 years (extended)[1][2] Elapsed: 4 years, 2 months and 23 days
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer
Airbus Defence and Space
Launch mass
1,800 kg (4,000 lb)[3]
Payload mass
209 kg (461 lb)[4]
Dimensions
2.5 × 3.1 × 2.7 m (8 × 10 × 9 ft)[3]
Power
180 watts[3]
Start of mission
Launch date
10 February 2020, 04:03 UTC[5]
Rocket
Atlas V 411 (AV-087)[6]
Launch site
Cape Canaveral, SLC-41
Contractor
United Launch Alliance
Entered service
November 2021 (start of main mission)
Orbital parameters
Reference system
Heliocentric
Regime
Elliptic orbit
Perihelion altitude
0.28 au[6]
Aphelion altitude
0.91 au
Inclination
24° (nominal mission) 33° (extended mission)
Period
168 days
Epoch
?
Main
Type
Ritchey–Chrétien reflector
Diameter
160 mm
Focal length
2.5 m
Wavelengths
Visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays
Instruments
EPD
Energetic Particle Detector
EUI
Extreme Ultraviolet Imager
MAG
Magnetometer
METIS
Multi Element Telescope for Imaging and Spectroscopy Coronagraph
PHI
Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager
RPW
Radio and Plasma Waves
SolOHI
Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager
SPICE
Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment
STIX
X-ray Spectrometer/Telescope
SWPA
Solar Wind Plasma Analyser
Insignia for the Solar Orbiter mission.
Cosmic Vision
← CHEOPS
Euclid →
The Solar Orbiter (SolO)[7] is a Sun-observing probe developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) with a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contribution. Solar Orbiter, designed to obtain detailed measurements of the inner heliosphere and the nascent solar wind, will also perform close observations of the polar regions of the Sun which is difficult to do from Earth. These observations are important in investigating how the Sun creates and controls its heliosphere.
SolO makes observations of the Sun from an eccentric orbit moving as close as ≈60 solar radii (RS), or 0.284 astronomical units (au), placing it inside Mercury's perihelion of 0.3075 au.[8] During the mission the orbital inclination will be raised to about 24°. The total mission cost is US$1.5 billion, counting both ESA and NASA contributions.[9]
SolO was launched on 10 February 2020 from Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA). The nominal mission is planned until the end of 2026, with a potential extension until 2030.
A comparison of the size of the Sun as seen from Earth (left, 1 au) and from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft (0.284 au, right)The Solar Orbiter structural thermal model shortly before leaving the Airbus Defence and Space facility in Stevenage, UK
The SolarOrbiter (SolO) is a Sun-observing probe developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) with a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)...
The OrbitingSolar Observatory (abbreviated OSO) Program was the name of a series of American space telescopes primarily intended to study the Sun, though...
A heliocentric orbit (also called circumsolar orbit) is an orbit around the barycenter of the Solar System, which is usually located within or very near...
"Lunar Orbiter 2". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019. "In Depth | Lunar Orbiter 2". Solar System...
Europa Orbiter astrobiology mission focused on Europa. The original Solar Probe design used a gravity assist from Jupiter to enter a polar orbit which...
spacecraft include: Venera program — USSR Venus orbiter and lander (1961–1984) Pioneer Venus project — US Venus orbiter and entry probes (1978) Vega program —...
2025, making it the closest-orbiting manmade satellite as the first spacecraft to fly low into the solar corona. SolarOrbiter mission (SolO) was launched...
Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), unofficially known as Mangalyaan (from Sanskrit Maṅgala, 'Mars', and yāna, 'craft, vehicle'), was a space probe orbiting Mars...
Phys.org. December 2019. "Solarorbiter Ulysses ends mission after 18 years". Reuters. July 2009. Spacecraft escaping the Solar System in heavens-above...
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO...
The following is a list of Solar System objects by orbit, ordered by increasing distance from the Sun. Most named objects in this list have a diameter...
±100–200 km). Solar radii as a unit are common when describing spacecraft moving close to the sun. Two spacecraft in the 2010s include: SolarOrbiter (as close...
The Solar System is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it. It was formed 4.6 billion years ago when a dense region...
other solar spacecraft would have helped with this mission, such as STEREO, Japan's Hinode, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and ESA's SolarOrbiter. Ground-based...
The Mars Climate Orbiter (formerly the Mars Surveyor '98 Orbiter) was a robotic space probe launched by NASA on December 11, 1998, to study the Martian...
public engagement programme. Green is involved in the development of the SolarOrbiter, a Sun-observing satellite under development by the ESA. The aim of...
spacecraft encountered a superior solar conjunction (alignment of Earth-Sun-Mars-orbiter). The angle Sun-Earth-orbiter reached a minimum on October 23 at...
Reconnaissance Orbiter, which reached Mars in March 2006, by monitoring atmospheric conditions during months when the newly arrived orbiter used aerobraking...
orbit and in the same orbital plane as Earth, there would be total solar eclipses once a month, at every new moon. Instead, because the Moon's orbit is...
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a spacecraft designed to search for the existence of water on Mars and provide support for missions to Mars,...
satellites launched together: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Mio (Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, MMO). The mission will perform a comprehensive...
smallest and largest distances between the orbiter and its host body (see second figure). For a body orbiting the Sun, the point of least distance is the...
over the Sun's poles. NASA's Parker Solar Probe and NASA/ESA SolarOrbiter both observed switchbacks. Magnetic (or solar) switchback is a rapid polarity reversals...
scientists aiming at detecting solar g modes SOHO 2333 Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), launched 2010, still operational. SolarOrbiter, launched 2020, still...
Earth–Moon solarorbit), and is nowhere concave (from the same perspective) or looped. That is, the region enclosed[where?] by the Moon's orbit of the Sun...
The Lunar Orbiter program was a series of five uncrewed lunar orbiter missions launched by the United States from 1966 through 1967. Intended to help...
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