Solar Orbiter (photo)

Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency (ESA) solar observation satellite developed with NASA participation to be launched in February 2020 and begin observations around 2023. The main objective of this scientific mission is to study the processes behind the solar wind, the heliospheric magnetic field, solar to energetic particles and the magnetic field of the Sun. Esa's Solar Orbiter is set to provide new views of our star, in particular providing close-up observations of the Sun's poles. Following its launch in February 2020 and three-year journey using gravity swingbys at Earth and Venus, Solar Orbiter will operate from an elliptical orbit around the Sun. At its closest it will approach our star within 42 million kilometres, closer than planet Mercury. An artist's print of Solar Orbiter in front of the stormy Sun is depicted here.