Accommodating these within a spacecraft, alongside the propulsion system to reach the Sun, the equipment necessary to control the satellite during long periods of autonomous operation and communicate with the Earth over very long distances, means that the platform had to be tailor-made. The instrument suites themselves account for over 40 pieces of equipment to be housed, requiring 37 unobstructed fields of view. To achieve this list of goals Solar Orbiter is completely packed with scientific instruments. The essential sunshield is placed in ESA’s Large Space Simulator for testing. It will answer questions such as: how solar eruptions produce energetic particle radiation that fills the heliosphere how the Sun’s magnetic dynamo works and drives connections between the Sun and the heliosphere how and where the outward flowing ‘solar wind’ plasma and magnetic field originate in the Sun’s outer atmosphere and how transient magnetic activity on the Sun drives heliospheric variability. Orbiting at a closest approach distance of 0.28 AU, inside the orbit of Mercury, Solar Orbiter will study in unprecedented detail how our Sun creates and controls the heliosphere, the bubble of space filled with particles and fields in which the Earth orbits. The key scientific goals of the mission are to answer pivotal questions about our Sun and how it interacts with the rest of the Solar System. NASA will also provide the launch.Īirbus Defence and Space in Stevenage, UK, is the prime contractor for this mission that will fly closer to the Sun than any mission before and uniquely measure both the environment in the heliosphere and on the solar disc and i ts immediate environment. Like those previous spacecraft, it is a collaboration between ESA and NASA, and includes major scientific payloads from the United States. It builds on the agency’s hugely successful missions such as SOHO and Ulysses. Solar Orbiter is the first M-class mission in the European Space Agency’s Cosmic Vision programme, due for launch in 2018.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |