Solar Orbiter’s Journey Around the Sun

October 28, 2019 – The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter was on display at IABG, a German analysis and test engineering company in Ottobrunn, Germany, before it starts its journey to Cape Canaveral on Florida’s Space Coast.

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The Solar Orbiter is projected to be launched from Cape Canaveral in February 2020. This is an ESA-led mission in conjunction with NASA. The Solar Orbiter will perform a close-up study of the Sun and the Sun-Earth connection to “better understand the behavior of the star on which our lives depend.” At its closest point, the spacecraft will operate from within the orbit of Mercury, providing unique data and imagery of the Sun.

Check out this cool animation that tracks the spacecraft’s journey: video

Source: European Space Agency’s Space Science e-news.
Photos: Courtesy ESA, taken on 17 October 2019.
Learn more at: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration