Today, Solar Orbiter lift off for the Sun from Cap Canaveral’s launch site. Featuring a large scientific payload which EREMS took part in, the probe will mainly study solar storms.
Feb. 20 - Solar Orbiter is on its way to provide unprecedented images of the Sun’s surface
EREMS
The broad outline of Solar Orbiter’s mission
After a 2 year long space journey, Solar Orbiter will be place into an orbit allowing it to graviate within 42 million kilometers of the Sun, closer than Mercure. Although far from the Parker probe’s record with only 19 million kilometers away from the sun, Solar Probe will be facing extreme temperatures up to 600 °C. ESA and NASA expect Solar Orbiter to observe solar spots, solar winds and the solar corona for at least 7 years.
Solar Orbiter’s observation capabilities
In order to carry out its mission, Solar Orbiter features 10 instruments allowing the acquisition of data of the Sun’s surface and the formation of solar winds. In particular, the probe will use PHI (Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager) which is a device equipped with two-telescopes providing maps of the magnetic vector and of the line-of-sight (LOS) velocity in the solar photosphere. EREMS provided a High Voltage Power Supply (HPVS) for the SO-PHI instrument. The results of Solar Orbiter’s observations should provide better forecast of solar flare endangering satellites and telecommunication networks.