KEY POINTS

  • NASA and ESA are launching a new solar mission in February
  • The Solar Orbiter can observe the Sun at a better angle than the Parker Solar Probe
  • Scientists are hoping to capture the first images of the Sun's poles

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are preparing to launch a new solar probe mission to study the Sun. Unlike other solar missions, the new probe will follow a different orbit to observe the Sun from new angles.

The mission, known as Solar Orbiter, features a 4,000-pound spacecraft that’s equipped with various scientific instruments. It is scheduled to launch on Feb. 5 through an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The Solar Orbiter mission will be primarily led by ESA with support from NASA. It will follow in the footsteps of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP), which is currently the only spacecraft in history that was able to approach the Sun from a close distance of 15 million miles. The goal of the spacecraft is to approach the Sun from a distance of 3.8 million miles.

Unlike the PSP, the Solar Orbiter won’t carry out Sun-kissing maneuvers. Although it will only observe the Sun from safe distances, it will be able to observe the giant star directly, which is something the PSP is not capable of doing. This means the Solar Orbiter could provide clearer and more detailed observations of the Sun than the PSP.

Aside from this, the Solar Orbiter will follow a different path instead of staying in the ecliptic plane. This is the region where the planets in the Solar System orbit around the Sun. According to scientists involved in the mission, going on a different route will enable the Solar Orbiter to observe the Sun from a different and new perspective.

They are hoping that this will allow the probe to capture the first images of the Sun’s poles, which can provide valuable information regarding the star’s magnetic field.

“We've never been able to image the poles of the Sun,” Holly Gilbert, NASA’s deputy project scientist for the mission said in a statement. “That is extremely important for helioseismology, but also for looking at the global magnetic field of the Sun.”

“In order to model space weather activity and activity in general on the Sun, we need that full global picture of the magnetic field,” she continued.

Solar Orbiter
Artist's impression of ESA's Solar Orbiter in front of the Sun (not to scale). ESA/ATG medialab NASA/SDO/ P. Testa (CfA)
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NASA Sun Space