{"id":12860,"date":"2019-11-03T01:22:39","date_gmt":"2019-11-02T17:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/solar-orbiter-arrives-at-kennedy-space-center-for-launch-preps\/"},"modified":"2019-11-03T01:22:39","modified_gmt":"2019-11-02T17:22:39","slug":"solar-orbiter-arrives-at-kennedy-space-center-for-launch-preps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/solar-orbiter-arrives-at-kennedy-space-center-for-launch-preps\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Orbiter arrives at Kennedy Space Center for launch preps"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Solar Orbiter spacecraft arrived at the Kennedy Space Center\u2019s Shuttle Landing Facility shortly after 9 p.m. EDT Friday (0100 GMT Saturday) after a trans-Atlantic journey from Germany aboard an Antonov An-124 transport plane. Credit: ESA\/J. Fiebrich<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The European-built Solar Orbiter spacecraft arrived in Florida late Friday after a trans-Atlantic journey from a test center in Germany, ready to begin preparations for a liftoff from Cape Canaveral in February aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.<\/p>\n

Packed inside a climate-controlled shipping container, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft rode an Antonov An-124 transport plane from Munich to the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the aircraft touched down shortly after 9 p.m. EDT Friday (0100 GMT Saturday).<\/p>\n

The spacecraft, built by Airbus Defense and Space, was expected to be transported by road to the Astrotech satellite processing facility in nearby Titusville, where ground teams will spend the next two-and-a-half months testing, fueling and readying Solar Orbiter for liftoff.<\/p>\n

Ten scientific instruments aboard Solar Orbiter will measure the sun\u2019s output and take the first detailed images of the sun\u2019s poles. NASA is paying for the launch of the European Space Agency science probe as part of an international collaboration on the nearly $1.7 billion Solar Orbiter mission.<\/p>\n

Scientists will use data from Solar Orbiter, in tandem with measurements from NASA\u2019s Parker Solar Probe, to better understand what causes the solar wind, and what drives the 11-year solar cycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cSolar Orbiter is clearly a new class in its own,\u201d said G\u00fcnther Hasinger, director of ESA\u2019s science program. \u201cIt has loads of instruments, which will go not as close as Parker Solar Probe, but quite close. Solar Orbiter will also have eyes. Parker Solar Probe can only sense and measure the plasma and the magnetic field, but Solar Orbiter also has six instruments that can really look at the sun, which is quite a challenge when you think it is reaching an environment where it\u2019s about 600 degrees Celsius (1,100 degrees Fahrenheit). It\u2019s like being in a pizza oven, so you have to make sure that you don\u2019t burn the instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parker Solar Probe, launched last year, faces much hotter conditions, where scorching temperatures would melt any camera exposed to the sun.<\/p>\n

After launch, Solar Orbiter, or SolO, will use use gravitational assist flybys with Earth and Venus, placing the spacecraft in an orbit inside that of Mercury in 2022. Solar Orbiter\u2019s final orbit will bring the spacecraft within 26 million miles (42 million kilometers) from the sun.<\/p>\n

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Artist\u2019s concept of the Solar Orbiter spacecraft. Credit: ESA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The planetary flybys will also use gravity to nudge Solar Orbiter into an inclined orbit around the sun, outside of the plane of the planets.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne additional interesting element that has never been done before is that Solar Orbiter will be able to image the poles of the sun,\u201d Hasinger said. \u201cThere are still mysteries around our understanding of the energy sources in the sun that produces the magnetic field and solar flares. A lot of people now think that some of the mysteries are actually hidden in the poles, which we have never seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSolar Orbiter is a science mission that will go close to the sun to take crucial measurements and try to find out how the heliosphere of the sun is operating, is working,\u201d said C\u00e9sar Garc\u00eda, Solar Orbiter\u2019s project manager at ESA. \u201cTo do that, it carries a series of instruments, actually 10 instruments. Some of them will be taking in situ measurements. They will be taking particles as they come off the sun.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, they will be taking remote images and spectrographs of the sun\u2019s surface, of the sun\u2019s corona, and of the sun\u2019s heliosphere to try and correlate what happens in those areas of the sun with the particles which are circulated,\u201d Garc\u00eda said.<\/p>\n

United Launch Alliance plans to transport components of Solar Orbiter\u2019s Atlas 5 rocket to Cape Canaveral later this month from the company\u2019s factory in Decatur, Alabama.<\/p>\n

Solar Orbiter will launch on a rarely-used configuration of the Atlas 5 known as the \u201c411\u201d version, with a single strap-on solid rocket booster on one side of the Atlas 5\u2019s kerosene-fueled core stage.<\/p>\n

Stacking of the Atlas 5 rocket for Solar Orbiter will begin Jan. 3 inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 41 launch pad. A wet dress rehearsal, or fueling test, is planned Jan. 21 at pad 41.<\/p>\n

Then Solar Orbiter will be added to the the top of the Atlas 5 rocket for a liftoff scheduled for 11:27 p.m. EST on Feb. 5 (0427 GMT on Feb. 6), the first of 19 daily launch opportunities in February.<\/p>\n

If the launch does not occur in February, the mission\u2019s next launch period opens in October 2020, when Earth and Venus are again in the proper position in the solar system to make Solar Orbiter\u2019s interplanetary trajectory possible.<\/p>\n

There is some concern among ESA and NASA teams that Solar Orbiter\u2019s launch could be impacted by any further delays to a planned Dec. 17 Atlas 5 launch of Boeing\u2019s Starliner commercial crew capsule on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

Both missions will use the same launch pad at Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n

The human-rated spaceship is one of two new commercial crew capsules NASA is funding \u2014 along with SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon \u2014 to end U.S. reliance on Russian Soyuz ferry ships to carry astronauts to the International Space Station. Both new vehicles have faced delays, and NASA is eager to begin flying astronauts on U.S. spaceships for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.<\/p>\n

Tim Dunn, NASA\u2019s launch director for the Solar Orbiter mission, said last month the Solar Orbiter launch campaign could be impacted if the Starliner launch is delayed beyond around Dec. 27. The Starliner test flight is a major demonstration before the Boeing crew capsule is cleared to carry astronauts into orbit next year.<\/p>\n

NASA has a role in both the Starliner and Solar Orbiter missions, and delays in the Boeing crew capsule test flight may force agency leaders to decide which mission will ultimately receive top priority in ULA\u2019s launch manifest.<\/p>\n

In addition to the high priority assigned to NASA\u2019s commercial crew program, Solar Orbiter\u2019s limited planetary launch opportunities, the spacecraft\u2019s previous delays, and the international nature of the mission could also factor in to the agency\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft arrived at the Kennedy Space Center\u2019s Shuttle Landing Facility shortly after 9 p.m. EDT Friday (0100 GMT Saturday) after a trans-Atlantic journey from Germany aboard an Antonov An-124 transport plane. Credit: ESA\/J. Fiebrich The European-built Solar Orbiter spacecraft arrived in Florida late Friday after a trans-Atlantic journey from a test center […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1657,2190,724,2334,1708,831,1860,428],"class_list":["post-12860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-airbus-defense-and-space","tag-astrotech","tag-atlas-5","tag-av-087","tag-complex-41","tag-european-space-agency","tag-heliophysics","tag-kennedy-space-center"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}