OrbitalHub

Wikipedia dicit:

The Solar Orbiter (SolO) is a planned Sun-observing satellite, under development by the European Space Agency (ESA). SolO is intended to perform detailed measurements of the inner heliosphere and nascent solar wind, and perform close observations of the polar regions of the Sun, which is difficult to do from Earth, both serving to answer the question “How does the Sun create and control the heliosphere?”

The science payload is composed of 10 instruments:

Heliospheric in-situ instruments

Solar Wind Analyser (SWA): To measure solar wind properties and composition; Energetic Particle Detector (EPD): To measure suprathermal ions, electrons, neutral atoms, as well as energetic particles in the energy range from few keV/nuc to relativistic electrons and ions up to 100 MeV (protons) and 200 MeV/nuc (heavy ions); Magnetometer (MAG): it will provide detailed measurements of the magnetic field; Radio and Plasma Wave analyser (RPW): To measure magnetic and electric fields at high time resolution.

Solar remote-sensing instruments

PHI: Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (Germany): To provide high-resolution and full-disc measurements of the photospheric vector magnetic field and line-of-sight (LOS) velocity as well as the continuum intensity in the visible wavelength range; EUI – Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (Belgium): To provide image sequences of the solar atmospheric layers above the photosphere, thereby providing an indispensable link between the solar surface and outer corona that ultimately shapes the characteristics of the interplanetary medium; SPICE – Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (France): To perform extreme ultraviolet imaging spectroscopy to remotely characterize plasma properties of the Sun’s on-disc corona; STIX – Spectrometer Telescope for Imaging X-rays (Switzerland): To provides imaging spectroscopy of solar thermal and non-thermal X-ray emission from 4 to 150 keV; METIS – Coronagraph (Italy): To simultaneously image the visible, ultraviolet and extreme ultraviolet emission of the solar corona and diagnose, with unprecedented temporal coverage and spatial resolution, the structure and dynamics of the full corona in the range from 1.4 to 3.0 (from 1.7 to 4.1) solar radii from Sun centre, at minimum (maximum) perihelion during the nominal mission; SoloHI – Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager (United States): To image both the quasi-steady flow and transient disturbances in the solar wind over a wide field of view by observing visible sunlight scattered by solar wind electrons.

Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Genna Duberstein (ADNET): Lead Producer/Maria-Jose Vinas Garcia (Telophase): Translator/Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET): Technical Support/Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Technical Support/Animation by ESA/ATG Medialab

Wikipedia dicit:

The Solar Orbiter (SolO) is a planned Sun-observing satellite, under development by the European Space Agency (ESA). SolO is intended to perform detailed measurements of the inner heliosphere and nascent solar wind, and perform close observations of the polar regions of the Sun, which is difficult to do from Earth, both serving to answer the question “How does the Sun create and control the heliosphere?”

SolO will make observations of the Sun from an eccentric orbit moving as close as ~60 solar radii (RS), or 0.284 astronomical units (au), placing it inside Mercury’s perihelion of 0.3075 au. During the planned 7-year mission the orbital inclination will be raised to about 25°.

The spacecraft will make a close approach to the Sun every five months. The closest approach will be positioned to allow a repeated study of the same region of the solar atmosphere. Solar Orbiter will be able to observe the magnetic activity building up in the atmosphere that can lead to powerful solar flares or eruptions.

Researchers will also have the chance to coordinate observations with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission (2018-2025) which is performing measurements of the Sun’s extended corona.

The objective of the mission is to perform close-up, high-resolution studies of the Sun and its inner heliosphere. The new understanding will help answer these questions:

How and where do the solar wind plasma and magnetic field originate in the corona?

How do solar transients drive heliospheric variability?

How do solar eruptions produce energetic particle radiation that fills the heliosphere?

How does the solar dynamo work and drive connections between the Sun and the heliosphere?

 

Video credit: United Launch Alliance

Wikipedia dicit:

The Van Allen Probes, formerly known as the Radiation Belt Storm Probes, were two robotic spacecraft that were used to study the Van Allen radiation belts that surround Earth. NASA conducted the Van Allen Probes mission as part of the Living With a Star program. Understanding the radiation belt environment and its variability has practical applications in the areas of spacecraft operations, spacecraft system design, mission planning and astronaut safety. The probes were launched on 30 August 2012 and operated for seven years. Both spacecraft were deactivated in 2019 when they ran out of fuel. They are expected to deorbit during the 2030s.

Video credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio/Tom Bridgman (GST): Lead Animator/Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Producer/Genna Duberstein (USRA): Producer/David G. Sibeck (NASA/GSFC): Scientist/Shrikanth G. Kanekal (NASA/GSFC): Scientist

Wikipedia dicit:

In 2014, Copenhagen Suborbitals settled on the basic design for their first crewed rocket and space capsule. The rocket will be named Spica, and will stand 12–14 m tall with a diameter of 950 mm. It will be powered by the BPM-100 engine class, using liquid oxygen as oxidizer and ethanol as fuel, producing 100 kilonewtons of thrust. It’s likely to feature pressure-blow-down tanks, optimised by a dynamic pressure regulation (DPR) system, but turbo pumps are also a possibility, although they are difficult to build. Flight control will be thrust vectoring via a gimbal engine. The rocket will be fully guided by home-built electronics and software. Most of the systems and technology will initially be tested on the smaller Nexø class rockets. The space capsule will be of a tubular design as its predecessor Tycho Brahe, but its greater diameter will allow the astronaut to assume a sitting position during launch and re-entry, in order to withstand the G-forces.

Video credit: Copenhagen Suborbitals

Wikipedia dicit:

A corona (meaning ‘crown’ in Latin derived from Ancient Greek ‘κορώνη’ (korōnè, “garland, wreath”)) is an aura of plasma that surrounds the Sun and other stars. The Sun’s corona extends millions of kilometres into outer space and is most easily seen during a total solar eclipse, but it is also observable with a coronagraph.

Spectroscopy measurements indicate strong ionization in the corona and a plasma temperature in excess of 1000000 kelvin, much hotter than the surface of the Sun.

Light from the corona comes from three primary sources, from the same volume of space. The K-corona (K for kontinuierlich, “continuous” in German) is created by sunlight scattering off free electrons; Doppler broadening of the reflected photospheric absorption lines spreads them so greatly as to completely obscure them, giving the spectral appearance of a continuum with no absorption lines. The F-corona (F for Fraunhofer) is created by sunlight bouncing off dust particles, and is observable because its light contains the Fraunhofer absorption lines that are seen in raw sunlight; the F-corona extends to very high elongation angles from the Sun, where it is called the zodiacal light. The E-corona (E for emission) is due to spectral emission lines produced by ions that are present in the coronal plasma; it may be observed in broad or forbidden or hot spectral emission lines and is the main source of information about the corona’s composition.

Video credit: Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Genna Duberstein (USRA): Producer/Mara Johnson-Groh (Wyle Information Systems): Lead Writer/Tom Bridgman (GST): Data Visualizer/Chris Smith (USRA): Narrator/Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET): Technical Support

NASA dicit:

A new spacecraft is journeying to the Sun to snap the first pictures of the Sun’s north and south poles. Solar Orbiter, a collaboration between ESA and NASA will have its first opportunity to launch from Cape Canaveral on February 7, 2020. Launching on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, the spacecraft will use Venus’ and Earth’s gravity to swing itself out of the ecliptic plane — the swath of space, roughly aligned with the Sun’s equator, where all planets orbit. From there, Solar Orbiter’s bird’s eye view will give it the first-ever look at the Sun’s poles.

Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Holly Gilbert (NASA/GSFC): Scientist/Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla (Catholic University of America): Scientist/Chris St. Cyr (NASA/GSFC): Scientist/Joy Ng (USRA): Producer/Tom Bridgman (GST): Data Visualizer/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (USRA): Animator/Chris Smith (USRA): Animator/Joy Ng (USRA): Animator/Lisa Poje (USRA): Animator/Krystofer Kim (USRA): Animator/Brian Monroe (USRA): Animator/Miles S. Hatfield (Telophase): Writer