The US-European joint project Solar Orbiter probe was launched on February 9, 2020 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Florida (USA). It was launched by the Atlas V 411.
The mission is a collaboration between ESA (the European Space Agency) and NASA.
Space Orbiter is expected to provide unprecedented insights into the Sun’s atmosphere, its winds and its magnetic fields, including how it shapes the heliosphere, the vast swath of space that encompasses our system.
Mission objective
Solar Orbiter will address big questions in Solar System science to help us understand how our star creates and controls the giant bubble of plasma that surrounds the whole Solar System and influences the planets within it. It is an ESA mission with strong NASA participation.
