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Airbus reports on progress by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft

An artist’s impression of the SolO spacecraft approaching the Sun

An artist’s impression of the SolO spacecraft approaching the Sun

Photo by Airbus

8th June 2020

By: Rebecca Campbell

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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Airbus Defence and Space, a division of the giant aerospace group Airbus, reported on June 8 that the Solar Orbiter (SolO) spacecraft is now some 105-million kilometres from Earth, heading for the Sun. (The distance between the Earth and the Sun is nearly 152-million kilometres.) Airbus designed and built SolO for the European Space Agency (which is not part of the European Union) and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa).

SolO will orbit the Sun at a distance less than the orbit of the planet Mercury, the closest planet to our star. It is a joint ESA/Nasa mission to investigate the solar wind at its origin, something which has never been done before. The solar wind is the constant stream of particles that escape from the Sun and radiate throughout the Solar System. 

“Solar wind takes about two to four days to get from the Sun to Earth, and in that time, it transforms completely,” points out Airbus SolO project manager Ian Walters. “We can better correlate what is seen with what is felt from the Sun if we can get up close. That’s the point of the Solar Orbiter mission.”

The spacecraft will also collect data regarding solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). CMEs are capable of disrupting telecommunications and navigation systems, as well as power grids and other essential modern technologies. “If we could predict the CME was coming our way, we’d have about two days’ notice for emergency government committees to be activated and react, instead of the few minutes notice we receive today,” he highlighted.

SolO was launched in February. It will be placed in an elliptical orbit around the Sun and it will be able to provide scientists with their first good view of the Sun’s polar regions.

Once in orbit SolO, and the ten instruments it carries, will be subjected to temperatures of up to 600 ˚C. Consequently, it is fitted with heat protection systems. Thus, it has an Airbus-designed heat shield, with apertures for its five telescopes.

But its primary heat protection system is its Stand-Off Radiator Assembly (SORA). This is a set of radiators located on the side of the spacecraft that is always in shadow. SORA has thermal straps manufactured from pyrolytic carbon, which combines the flexibility of paper with a conductivity that is five times greater than that of copper wire.

SolO was also assembled to levels of cleanliness much greater than any other spacecraft previously built in the UK. This was to prevent any molecular contamination that could compromise the imagery from its telescopes. Every component and instrument of the spacecraft was also heated to over 120 ˚C to ensure there were no residual gases that could be emitted when it was in space.

 

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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