On February 9, 2020, the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Florida on top of an Atlas V 411 spacecraft. The spacecraft’s mission is to fly inside the orbit of Mercury, on a tilted orbit that takes it above and below the Sun, capturing images of the Sun’s poles for the first time.

This is just a year and a half after the launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which will fly even closer. Together, the two spacecraft will measure the Sun from every angle up close, providing detailed images and insights of our closest star, to help understand how it creates and controls the giant bubble of plasma that surrounds the entire Solar System.

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References:

https://sci.esa.int/web/solar-orbiter/-/liftoff-for-solar-orbiter-esa-s-mission-to-face-the-sun-up-close

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter

http://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2019/10/Solar_Orbiter_s_journey_around_the_Sun

http://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Ulysses_overview

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/ulysses/in-depth/

https://www.nasa.gov/content/solar-orbiter-overview

https://sci.esa.int/web/solar-orbiter/-/51169-what-drives-the-solar-wind-and-where-does-the-coronal-magnetic-field-originate-from

https://sci.esa.int/web/solar-orbiter/-/51170-how-do-solar-transients-drive-heliospheric-variability

https://sci.esa.int/web/solar-orbiter/-/51171-how-do-solar-eruptions-produce-energetic-particle-radiation-that-fills-the-heliosphere

https://sci.esa.int/web/solar-orbiter/-/51172-how-does-the-solar-dynamo-work-and-drive-connections-between-the-sun-and-the-heliosphere

https://sci.esa.int/web/solar-orbiter/-/51217-instruments

http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/The-Mission/index.php

https://www.eso.org/public/outreach/eduoff/vt-2004/mt-2003/mt-mercury-orbit.html

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Paint_it_black_Stone_Age_sunscreen_for_Solar_Orbiter

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Solar_Orbiter_s_shield_takes_Sun_s_heat

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