Few 1-year-olds are as research-intensive as NASA and the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter. The space probe is already 138 million miles from Earth and is close to giving birth to a baby the first time behind the sun.
Launched on February 10, 2020, it is the end of the connected season for the small spouting spacecraft, noting the proximity of the probe to the Sun when viewed with a clear eye. the Earth. Built as a cosmic water skipper and tasked with observing the Sun in detail, Solar Orbiter will explore everything from our star’s solar wind to our solar orbits. Now about 25,000 China’s Great Walls away from Earth, the researcher will be able to recount the star’s unprecedented features.
“Air 10 [February], we will be at perihelion; that is, the closest way to the Sun from the normal orbit, just under half the distance between the Sun and the Earth, ”said Daniel Müller, scientist for the Solar Orbiter project with the ESA, in a post- d. “This allows us to see the sun in a very high resolution. ”
Solar Orbiter has several different images, which appear at the Sun from so close to the table. (Cameras are already paying dividends, lately catching three planets of the solar system in one field of view). Yes many instruments looking at our Sun at any given time, but Solar Orbiter’s special instrument set offers a whole new perspective.
The orbiter will not withstand immediate hazards from the heat on the other side of the sun. It features a heat shield coated with black calcium phosphate, which helps the star withstand temperatures nearly 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Of greater concern is the capricious nature of the solar heliosphere, which can disturb radio signals from Earth trying to reach the probe, slowing down the cosmic communication and even completely harass communication.
Fortunately, NASA and ESA prepared for these challenges. Even in radio silence, the orbiter will continue to record its observations at a distance, for download to earth once the connection is restored.
“Our bottom line is to be able to communicate with Solar Orbiter at all times, except when the satellite is‘ behind the sun ’as seen from Earth,” Müller said. “From February 12, the angle between the Sun, Earth and Solar Orbiter will be greater than 5 levels, and we can start reducing data at specified telemetry levels again. ”
There’s still plenty to come for the spacecraft, which is scheduled to make the next flyby of Venus (second out of seven planned) in August, and then flyby Earth in late November. As always in space exploration, a new horizon awaits us.