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News and Highlights

Solar Orbiter releases first data to the public

30 September 2020ESA has released its first Solar Orbiter data to the scientific community and the wider public. The instruments contributing to this data release are the Energetic Particle Detector (EPD), the Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument, and the Magnetometer (MAG). Data from the fourth in-situ instrument, the Solar Wind Plasma Analyser (SWA) will be...

Solar Orbiter’s first images reveal ‘campfires’ on the Sun

16 July 2020The first images from Solar Orbiter, a new Sun-observing mission by ESA and NASA, have revealed omnipresent miniature solar flares, dubbed ‘campfires’, near the surface of our closest star. “These are only the first images and we can already see interesting new phenomena,” says Daniel Müller, ESA’s Solar Orbiter Project Scientist. “We didn’t...

Solar Orbiter ready for science despite COVID-19 setbacks

30 June 2020ESA’s Solar Orbiter has successfully completed four months of painstaking technical verification, known as commissioning. Despite the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the spacecraft is now ready to begin performing science as it continues its cruise towards the Sun.

Solar Orbiter makes first close approach to the Sun

15 June 2020ESA’s Sun-exploring mission Solar Orbiter has made its first close approach to the star on June 15, getting as close as 77 million kilometres to its surface, about half the distance between the Sun and Earth.

Solar Orbiter to pass through the tails of Comet ATLAS

29 May 2020ESA’s Solar Orbiter will cross through the tails of Comet ATLAS during the next few days. Although the recently launched spacecraft was not due to be taking science data at this time, mission experts have worked to ensure that the four most relevant instruments will be switched on during the unique encounter.

ESA scales down science mission operations amid pandemic

25 March 2020In response to the escalating coronavirus pandemic, ESA has decided to further reduce on-site personnel at its mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany. The new adjustments require temporarily stopping instrument operation and data gathering on four Solar System science missions, including Solar Orbiter.

First Solar Orbiter instrument sends measurements

19 February 2020First measurements by a Solar Orbiter science instrument reached the ground on Thursday 13 February providing a confirmation to the international science teams that the magnetometer on board is in good health following a successful deployment of the spacecraft’s instrument boom.

Solar Orbiter braves challenging early days

15 February 2020At 16:00 CET on Thursday, 13 February, the critical first 83 hours of Solar Orbiter’s unique mission to study our star came to an end.

Liftoff for Solar Orbiter, ESA’s mission to face the Sun up close

11 February 2020ESA’s Solar Orbiter mission lifted off on an Atlas V 411 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 05:03 CET on 10 February on its mission to study the Sun from new perspectives.

Paint it black: Stone Age sunscreen for Solar Orbiter

28 January 2020How do you dress on a hot day? Knowing that Solar Orbiter will venture closer to the Sun than any previous ESA mission, it might seem odd that a spacecraft needing to endure an unprecedented level of sunlight ends up almost entirely black in colour. The reason why comes down to practicalities of thermal design, a coating treatment devised for...

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Upcoming Events

15 February 2023: Executive Science Working Team (SWT-35) meeting (online)

17-19 April 2023: Science Working Team (SWT-36) meeting (Paris)

Past Events

16-18 January 2023: Science Operations (SOWG-22) meeting (ESAC, Madrid) and Remote-Sensing Group

31 December 2022: submission deadline for the A&A special issue on "Solar Orbiter First Results: nominal mission phase"

9 December 2022: Review of the SOOPs run at the Oct 2022 perihelion (online)

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