Few 1-year-olds are as intrepid explorers as NASA and the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter. The spacecraft is already 138 million kilometers from Earth and is about to take the baby first trip behind the Sun.
Launched on February 10, 2020, it is finally the season of conjunctions for the small space probe, referring to the probe’s apparent proximity to the Sun when the eyes see it on Earth. Built as a cosmic water pattern and tasked with observing the Sun in incredible detail, Solar Orbiter will inspect everything from our star’s solar wind to its solar cycles. Now, about 25,000 Great Walls of China, far from Earth, the probe will be able to report on the characteristics of the star never seen before.
“On the 10th [February], we will be on the perihelion; that is to say, the closest approach to the Sun of the current orbit, little less than half of the distance between the Sun and the Earth ”, said in an e-mail Daniel Müller, scientist of the project Solar Orbiter of the IS IN. “This will allow us to observe the Sun in very high resolution.”
Solar Orbiter is equipped with several different images, which will contemplate the Sun from a record proximity. (Cameras are already paying dividends, recently capture three of the planets in the solar system in a field of view). There are numerous instruments looking at our Sun at every moment, but Solar Orbiter’s unique set of instruments offers a whole new perspective.
The orbiter does not withstand any immediate danger of heat at the end of the Sun. It has a thermal shield coated with black calcium phosphate, which helps the resistant to withstand temperatures of almost 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
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A bigger concern is the whimsical nature of the Sun’s heliosphere, which can disrupt Earth’s radio signals trying to reach the probe, slowing down cosmic correspondence and even completely silencing communication.
Fortunately, NASA and ESA were prepared for these challenges. Even silently by radio, the orbit will continue to record its observations remotely, for terrestrial discharge once the connection is restored.
“Our baseline is to be able to communicate with Solar Orbiter at all times, except for periods during which the satellite is‘ behind the Sun ’as seen from Earth,” Müller said. “From February 12, the angle between the Sun, the Earth and the Solar Orbiter will be above 5 degrees and we will be able to start linking the data again at nominal telemetry speeds.”
There are still many things to come to the spacecraft, which is scheduled to make its next flyby of Venus (the second of seven planned) in August, followed by a flyby of Earth in late November. As always in space exploration, new horizons await us.