Few 1-year-olds are as intrepid explorers as NASA and the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter. The spacecraft is already 138 million miles from Earth and is about to have babies first trip behind the sun.
Launched on February 10, 2020, it is finally conjunction season for the brave little spacecraft, referring to the probe’s apparent proximity to the sun as seen through eyes on Earth. Built as a cosmic water skipper and tasked with observing the sun in incredible detail, Solar Orbiter will inspect everything from our star’s solar wind to its solar cycles. With about 25,000 Chinese Walls removed from Earth, the probe will be able to report on the star’s never-before-seen features.
‘At 10 [February], we will be in perihelion; that is, the closest approximation to the sun from its current orbit, a little less than half the distance between the sun and the earth, ”said Daniel Müller, a Solar Orbiter project scientist at ESA, in an email. “This allows us to observe the sun with a very high resolution.”
Solar Orbiter is equipped with several cameras, which will gaze at the sun from a record distance. (The cameras are already paying dividends recently capture three of the solar system’s planets in one field of view). There are numerous instruments look at our sun at any time, but Solar Orbiter’s unique range of instruments offers a whole new perspective.
The orbiter has no direct danger from the heat on the other side of the sun. It has a heat shield covered in black calcium phosphate, which helps the telescope withstand temperatures of nearly 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Of greater concern is the erratic nature of the Sun’s heliosphere, which can disrupt radio signals from Earth attempting to reach the probe, slowing cosmic correspondence, and even silencing communication completely.
Fortunately, NASA and ESA were prepared for such challenges. Even in radio silence, the orbiter will continue to record its remote observations for terrestrial download once the connection is restored.
“Our baseline is to be able to communicate with Solar Orbiter at all times, except during periods when the satellite is ‘behind the sun,’ as seen from Earth,” said Müller. “Starting February 12, the angle between the Sun, Earth and the Solar Orbiter will be greater than 5 degrees, and we can resume downlinking data at rated telemetry rates.”
There is still plenty to come for the spacecraft, which is scheduled to make its next flight past Venus (the second of the planned seven) in August, followed by a flight over Earth in late November. As always when exploring space, new horizons await us.