Solar Orbiter (ESA / NASA)

ESA and NASA's Solar Orbiter took the first close-up images of the Sun's poles, coming within 42 million km of the Sun.

Image: NASA/KSC.

Solar Orbiter: Mission Status

Active, orbiting the Sun. Dates per ESA; missions shift.

The Five W's of Solar Orbiter

Who

ESA and NASA.

Source: NASA, Solar Orbiter

What

A Sun-observing spacecraft with ten instruments.

Source: ESA, Solar Orbiter

When

Launched February 2020; routine science since November 2021.

Source: ESA, Solar Orbiter

Where

Orbiting the Sun, as close as 42 million km.

Source: ESA, Solar Orbiter

Why

To understand how the Sun creates and controls the solar wind and how that affects our planet.

Source: ESA, Solar Orbiter

Impact Statement

Agency solution · active

Solar Orbiter, an international mission between ESA and NASA, launched in February 2020. It has taken the closest-ever images of the Sun and the first close-up images of the Sun's polar regions, coming within 42 million km of the Sun, and links the solar wind to where it comes from on the Sun's surface.

Source: ESA, Solar Orbiter

Source: NASA, Solar Orbiter

Tracing solar wind to its source helps forecast the space weather that reaches Earth.

For Further Information: ESA, Solar Orbiter

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