Today is a big day for science: The European Space Agency is about to launch a spacecraft that will give us unprecedented access to the unexplored sides of our Sun.
The United Launch Alliance 'Atlas V' rocket launches today, and the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar Orbiter will be on board to help us explore our star in person.
Atlas V is scheduled to launch at 04:03 GMT (15:00 Moscow time) from the Start 41 complex at Cape Canaveral, and you will be able to observe the launch via NASA broadcast.
If all goes according to plan, Solar Orbiter will detach from Atlas V approximately 53 minutes after launch. It will then spend the next three and a half years moving toward the Sun and be in orbit.
The spacecraft was specially designed to withstand temperatures up to 500 degrees Celsius and withstand the large amount of charged particles that it is likely to bombard as it approaches the star.
The entire probe is protected by a titanium shield; when its instruments start working, the probe will look at the sun because of this protective layer.
“The Solar Orbiter is all about the connection between what happens in the Sun and what happens in space,” said Principal Investigator Tim Horbury.
'We need to fly closer to the Sun to look at the original region, and then measure the particles and fields that emanate from it. It is this combination, plus its unique orbit, that makes the probe so powerful in studying how the sun works and how it affects the solar system. '
One of the exciting parts of a solar orbiter mission is that it will enter an orbit that gives us a first glimpse of the sun's poles.
Sources: Photo: (ESA / C. Carreau)
