Solar Orbiter

This article is about the European Space Agency heliophysics orbiter. For the NASA heliophysics orbiter, see Parker Solar Probe.

Solar Orbiter
Artist's impression of the Solar Orbiter orbiting the Sun
Mission typeHeliophysics
OperatorESA / NASA
COSPAR ID2020-010A
SATCAT no.45167
WebsiteOfficial website
Mission duration7 years (nominal)
+ 3 years (extended)[1][2]
Elapsed: 5 years, 7 months and 9 days
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerAirbus Defence and Space
Launch mass1,800 kg (4,000 lb)[3]
Payload mass209 kg (461 lb)[4]
Dimensions2.5 × 3.1 × 2.7 m (8 × 10 × 9 ft)[3]
Power180 watts[3]
Start of mission
Launch date10 February 2020, 04:03 UTC[5]
RocketAtlas V 411 (AV-087)[6]
Launch siteCape Canaveral, SLC‑41
ContractorUnited Launch Alliance
Entered serviceNovember 2021
(start of main mission)
Orbital parameters
Reference systemHeliocentric
RegimeElliptic orbit
Perihelion altitude0.28 AU (42 million km; 26 million mi)[6]
Aphelion altitude0.91 AU (136 million km; 85 million mi)
Inclination24° (nominal mission)
33° (extended mission)
Period168 days
Main
TypeRitchey–Chrétien reflector
Diameter160 mm
Focal length2.5 m
WavelengthsVisible light, ultraviolet, X-rays

Insignia for the Solar Orbiter mission.
Cosmic Vision
Living With a Star program

The Solar Orbiter (SolO)[7] is a Sun-observing probe developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) with a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contribution. Solar Orbiter, designed to obtain detailed measurements of the inner heliosphere and the nascent solar wind, also performs close observations of the polar regions of the Sun which is difficult to do from Earth. These observations are important in investigating how the Sun creates and controls its heliosphere.

SolO makes observations of the Sun from an eccentric orbit moving as close as ≈60 solar radii (RS), or 0.284 astronomical units (au), placing it inside Mercury's perihelion of 0.3075 au.[8] During the mission the orbital inclination will be raised to about 24°. The total mission cost is US$1.5 billion, counting both ESA and NASA contributions.[9] SolO was launched on 10 February 2020 from Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA). The nominal mission is planned until the end of 2026, with a potential extension until 2030.

  1. ^ "ESA Science & Technology – Spacecraft". sci.esa.int. Archived from the original on 5 April 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  2. ^ "Solar Orbiter Mission". ESA eoPortal. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  3. ^ a b c "Solar Orbiter factsheet". esa.int. Archived from the original on 8 July 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  4. ^ "ESA Science & Technology – Instruments". sci.esa.int. Archived from the original on 20 April 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  5. ^ "Launch Schedule – Spaceflight Now". spaceflightnow.com. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  6. ^ a b "NASA – NSSDCA – Spacecraft – Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  7. ^ Solar Orbiter (SolO). Archived 5 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP). Accessed on 18 December 2019.
  8. ^ "Kiepenheuer-Institut fuer Sonnenphysik: SolarOrbiter PHI-ISS". Kis.uni-freiburg.de. Archived from the original on 5 April 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Atlas launches Solar Orbiter mission". SpaceNews. 10 February 2020. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
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