Solar Orbiter Status

Date: Tue, Apr 02, 2019 | 06:30 - 07:00 GMT | 08:30 - 09:00 CEST

Replay: Tue, Apr 02, 2019 | 15:00 - 15:30 GMT | 17:00 - 17:30 CEST

Type: ESA TV Exchange

Format: 16:9

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft is undergoing important pre-launch tests at the IABG National Space Centre in Germany.

This joint ESA and NASA mission will study the Sun in an unprecedented way.

First the spacecraft must pass vibration, acoustic and shock tests before heading to Cape Canaveral for launch, in 2020.

This will ensure the spacecraft can withstand the stresses of lift off and the extreme environments it will encounter while in orbit around the Sun – from the coldness of space 300 million km away – to temperatures up to 500ºC reached when it will be a mere 42 million km away, closer than Mercury.

An international collaboration, the spacecraft was built and is being tested by Airbus.

This film contains interviews with Cesar Garcia, ESA Solar Orbiter Project Manager, in English and Spanish and Ian Walters, Solar Orbiter Project Manager at Airbus Defence and Space in English.

 

More information at: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter

Preview and download:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2019/03/Testing_Solar_Orbiter

Script:
1803-020-SOLAR-ORBITER-Final script + TC.docx

Satellite Parameters: Eutelsat 9A at 9 degrees E, transponder 59, downlink frequency 11900.1 horizontally polarised, symbol rate 27,500 FEC 2/3.