Solar Orbiter

Flyaway

Flyaway

ACCESS: USAP
Senior Member
Joined
21 January 2015
Messages
12,140
Reaction score
16,304
This is launching very soon in February.


ESA Science & Technology - Solar Orbiter

Solar Orbiter is a mission dedicated to solar and heliospheric physics. It was selected as the first medium-class mission of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Programme. Solar Orbiter aims to make significant breakthroughs in our understanding both of how the inner heliosphere works, and of the...
sci.esa.int
 
Why is this in the unbuilt projects section rather than Aerospace or Bar?
 
Seeker have re-uploaded their video:

 
Last edited:
Flyaway said:
dan_inbox said:
Why is this in the unbuilt projects section rather than Aerospace or Bar?
Click to expand...
Because it’s a space project. This section is called space projects is it not.
Click to expand...

On this site, "Projects" usually refers to things that were never actually built (or at least only to prototype). But that is most strictly applied in the Aircraft forums. The other sections usually get a bit more slack, and I think we have several topics on operational spacecraft in this section already.
 
Last edited:
Flyaway said:


Click to expand...

Thanks for posting the Solar Orbiter pictures and video Flyaway, I missed the launch as it was overnight UK time.
 
 
Grey Havoc said:
That should have been caught in testing, one would have thought.
Click to expand...

Perhaps in testing the temps on those pins never fell quite that far. The real world has a habit of presenting scenarios that testing does not reveal.

EDIT: On further research, the perils of relying on Twitter become clear. The full (or at least more full) quote, via SpaceRef:

"We saw that the pins that hold the doors of the remote observation instruments safely in place during launch were cooling down more rapidly than expected as we tilted them away from the Sun," says Andrea.

"If their temperature had fallen to below -40°C, they could have undergone 'cold welding', sticking them in place and preventing the doors of the remote sensing instruments from opening."

"The pins had already gotten too cold to move, and were in danger of sticking. To prevent this, we sent the command for Solar Orbiter to enter its 'safe mode', resetting its orientation and pointing the pins back towards the Sun."
Click to expand...

So yes, a known condition that they anticipated, but simply happened faster than testing had suggested it would.
 

Solar Orbiter to pass through the tails of Comet ATLAS

ESA’s Solar Orbiter will cross through the tails of Comet ATLAS during the next few days. Although the recently launched spacecraft was not due to be taking science data at this time, mission experts have worked to ensure that the four most relevant instruments will be switched on during the...
www.esa.int
 
 
FighterJock said:
These pictures of the surface of the sun by the Solar Probe are spectacular to say the least, I cannot wait to see what comes next as the probe gets nearer to the Sun.
Click to expand...

As long as we don't have to call up International Rescue.

;)
 
View: https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/1343179217148792839


View: https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/1343179620271730690


Update from the flight control team: 'We're post-Closest Approach in TM now on ground' = We have confirmed #VenusFlyby complete by checking the telemetry, so all #good
Click to expand...

Our @ESASolarOrbiter has adopted its post-flyby attitude... all good 230 990 088.889 km away!
Click to expand...
 
View: https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/1464503299953119232


Our #Estrack station in Australia has picked up the signal from #SolarOrbiter!

The spacecraft has safely performed its only #Earthflyby, passing through our human-made debris-filled environment.
Click to expand...
 
Getting closer! Today we’re passing the orbit of Mercury, on our way to a ~50 million km flyby of our #Sun on 26 March. We’ll be inside the orbit of Mercury until 6 April.
Click to expand...

View: https://twitter.com/ESASolarOrbiter/status/1503330787969712128
 
#SolarOrbiter is heading for its closest approach of the Sun yet: on 26 March it will pass within ~50 million km (inside the orbit of Mercury) collecting data on our nearest star.
Click to expand...

View: https://twitter.com/ESASolarOrbiter/status/1505827476957716482
 
View: https://twitter.com/ESASolarOrbiter/status/1507673466220204034


Happy perihelion day! Today we're flying by the #Sun at about 48 million km, in one of many close perihelion passes throughout our mission. Here's a taste of what's to come https://esa.int/Science_Exploration...biter/Zooming_into_the_Sun_with_Solar_Orbiter #WeAreAllSolarOrbiters
Click to expand...
View: https://twitter.com/ESASolarOrbiter/status/1508009681557635073


Happy SUNday! ☀️ #SolarOrbiter passed through a close solar perihelion yesterday, but there is so much more to come over the next years as we eventually get those much awaited views of the Sun's poles. Here's how we'll do it

How to get the best view of the Sun

ESA’s Solar Orbiter is imaging the Sun from closer than any spacecraft has done before, and will be the first to directly observe the Sun’s poles, which are key to understanding the star’s magnetic field that drives the generation of space weather. But getting to the uniquely tilted orbit...
www.esa.int
Click to expand...
 
Coronal mass ejection hits Solar Orbiter before Venus flyby

On 30 Aug, a large coronal mass ejection shot from the Sun in the direction of Venus. Not long later, the storm arrived at the second planet from the Sun. As the data continues to come in from Solar Orbiter, this strike reveals why ‘in situ’ monitoring of space weather and its effects on the bodies, and spacecraft, of the Solar System are so important.

Fortunately, there were no negative effects on the spacecraft as the ESA-NASA solar observatory is designed to withstand and in fact measure violent outbursts from our star – although Venus doesn’t always get off so lightly. Coronal mass ejections have a tendency of eroding Venus’ atmosphere, stripping off gasses as they whoosh by.
Click to expand...
 
With data from its closest pass of the #Sun yet, the ESA/NASA #SolarOrbiter spacecraft has found compelling clues about the origin of a magnetic phenomenon around our star...
Click to expand...

View: https://twitter.com/esa/status/1569263228412170241
 
View: https://twitter.com/esascience/status/1585606409349222401


#SolarOrbiter's second close encounter with the Sun is delivering stunning data of our home star

This movie comes from 13 Oct when @esasolarorbiter’s @EuiTelescope returned the highest resolution movie of the quiet corona ever taken

https://esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2022/10/Solar_Orbiter_s_unprecedented_view_of_the_quiet_corona #ExploreFarther
Click to expand...
 


Write your reply...

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom