The scientists will soon be able to have a good look of the poles of the Sun and also solve many of the mysteries pertaining to it with the Solar Orbiter all ready to embark on its space journey in the first week of February.
The 1.5 billon mission of the European Space Agency with the support of NASA will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, taking along with it the hopes of deep solar exploration. The Solar Orbiter would be taking measurements of the inner heliosphere and also solar wind. The most important aspect of this mission is that the Orbiter would be scanning the solar poles.
The Solar Orbiter would be making the observations from an eccentric orbit moving as close as 60solar Radii. In the seven year mission, the orbital inclination of solar Orbiter would be raised to about 25 degrees.
Space scientist at the Naval Research Lab Russel Howard was quoted as saying that all solar imaging instruments in the solar orbiter have been placed within the ecliptic plane or very close to it. As such, it would be easier to look down on the sun from above, he added. Howard is the principal investigator for heliosphere imager, which is one of the ten instruments in the orbiter.
NASA project scientist Holy Gilbert was also quoted as saying that the exploration of solar poles are of great importance. He said in a statement that an accurate model of the magnetic field of the sun was needed for forecasting space weather events.
Social orbiter is being launched just 18 months after NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. The Parker probe is said to have come closer to the sun ( about 24 million Kilometres).
