{"id":8224,"date":"2020-06-08T23:08:25","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T04:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planesintheair.com\/?p=8224"},"modified":"2020-06-08T23:08:25","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T04:08:25","slug":"airbus-solar-orbiter-ready-for-close-up-with-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/?p=8224","title":{"rendered":"Airbus Solar Orbiter Ready for Close-Up With The Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Currently traveling at some\u00a0105 million kilometres from Earth, the Airbus-built Solar Orbiter (SolO) is en route for an encounter to uncover the secrets of our closest star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While humankind has been studying the Sun for hundreds of years, the research is limited because data was always collected from distances more or less equal to the star\u2019s separation from Earth, according to Ian Walters, Airbus\u2019 SolO Project Manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSolar wind takes about two to four days to get from the Sun to Earth, and in that time, it transforms completely,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe can better correlate what is seen with what is felt from the Sun if we can get up close. That\u2019s the point of the Solar Orbiter mission\u2026and it\u2019s never been achieved before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solar Orbiter was launched in February in a joint mission of the European Space Agency and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Travelling closer to the Sun than its nearest planet \u2013 Mercury \u2013 SolO will make comprehensive measurements of the nascent solar wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beating the heat<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the spacecraft and its 10 instruments to survive extreme temperatures of up to 600 deg. Centigrade, Airbus designed a protective heat shield with openings for SolO\u2019s five telescopes to peek through during the trek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Walters, the most critical heat protection technology is the Stand-off Radiator Assembly (SORA) \u2013 a set of radiators sitting on the spacecraft\u2019s side that is always in shadow, enabling them to quickly transfer heat from the instruments into space. SORA\u2019s thermal straps are made from pyrolytic graphite, which is five times more conductive than copper wire but flexible like paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To avoid any molecular contamination that could compromise imagery from the telescopes, Airbus also built Solar Orbiter to levels of cleanliness far exceeding any other spacecraft built in the UK\u00a0to date. Every item on SolO has been heated to over 120 degrees to make sure no gases are emitted in the vacuum of space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Predicting solar events<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data from Solar Orbiter can help make significant improvements to everyday life, particularly when it comes to predicting solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME) \u2013 the expulsions of plasma and its accompanying magnetic field from the sun, which can have a major impact on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 1859, one such episode took down the world\u2019s telegraph network,\u201d Walters said. \u201cA similar event today would severely disrupt our power grids, mobile phone towers, navigation systems and many other critical technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cIf we could predict the CME was coming our way, we\u2019d have about two days\u2019 notice for emergency government committees to be activated and react, instead of the few minutes\u2019 notice we receive today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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