A significant success was recorded at Cape Canaveral as the Solar Orbiter was launched without problems. The Solar Orbiter is a joint project coordinated by NASA and the European Space Agency, and the venture is quite significant.
The spacecraft will convey valuable data about the northern and southern poles of the star, which will be captured with the help of six instruments.
It is thought that by learning more about the poles, researchers will manage to determine some of the traits of the powerful magnetic field exerted by the star and how it can affect our planet.
According to official estimations, the journey towards the sun will last for two years. Gravity assist maneuvers with the help of Earth and Venus will ensure that the spacecraft will follow a highly elliptical orbit that with allow it to study both poles.
Solar Orbiter Will Help Us Learn More About The Sun
In 1990, NASA and ESA launched the Ulysses spacecraft, which also managed to observe the poles of the sun. Three passes were completed before the spacecraft was required, but the tools that were aboard weren’t sensible enough to peer beyond the equator.
Until now, all the solar images that have been recorded were taken with the help of instruments located near or within the ecliptic plane. A high-ranking ESA employee has compared the potential of the new missions with the discoveries that awaited brave explorers in the past.
The tools aboard the sun orbiter can observe and capture information about the corona, solar disk, and the poles. Some of the instruments can also monitor phenomena like the solar wind or the jets of hit plasma that are released from time to time.
Learning more about the magnetic field of the sun will contribute to the development of future tech that may be more resilient and harder to disturb. More information related to the mission will likely be shared in the future.
