Published 17:41 IST, January 31st 2020
Solar Orbiter mission to study and analyse sun; to launch on February 7
Researchers of the University of Michigan launched a solar orbiter mission on February 7 for studying and analysing the physics of the Sun, as per reports.
Researchers of the University of Michigan reportedly launched a solar orbiter mission on February 7 for studying and analysing the physics of the Sun and will also be the first to capture the images of the Sun's poles. The European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar Orbiter will work with close coordination with Parker Solar Probe of NASA which was launched earlier in August 2018. The orbiter is all set to launch from Cape Canaveral, according to the researchers. Solar storms are naturally the torrents of charged particles and electromagnetic fields that travel from Sun and clatter the magnetic field Earth.
Mission scheduled to launch atop a ULA Atlas V
The disturbances can harm the power lines and may put the expensive transformers at risk and can also damage satellites.
It is a $1.5 billion solar orbiter mission scheduled to launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on the night of February 7. The 3,970-lb spacecraft will use several flybys of Venus and one of Earth to get into an unusual orbit around the sun. The Solar Orbiter seeks to connect the activity on the Sun to solar plasma that flows out in heliosphere and drives space weather. The instrument which will be used include the Heavy Ion Sensor (HIS) which is partially built at U-M. It is a kind of ion mass spectrometer that is known to break down the composition of the solar wind it samples.
Updated 17:41 IST, January 31st 2020