Solar Orbiter: journey around the Sun

Gravity assist manoeuvres at Earth and Venus enable Solar Orbiter to change inclination to observe the Sun from different perspectives. During the initial cruise phase, from launch (February 2020) until November 2021, Solar Orbiter performed two gravity-assist manoeuvres around Venus and one around Earth to alter the spacecraft’s trajectory, guiding it towards the innermost regions of the Solar System. At the same time, Solar Orbiter acquired in situ data, and tested and calibrated its remote-sensing instruments. 

The spacecraft’s orbit has been chosen to be ‘in resonance’ with Venus, which means that it returns to the planet’s vicinity every few orbits and can repeatedly use the planet’s gravity to alter or tilt its orbit. Initially Solar Orbiter was flying in the same plane as the planets, but each encounter of Venus increases its orbital inclination. After the 2025 Venus encounter it made its first solar observations at 17° inclination (measured from the Sun's equator), increasing to 33° during a proposed mission extension phase – these tilted orbits are represented by the coloured ovals in this graphic. Solar Orbiter is the first spacecraft to take images of the Sun's polar regions, offering humankind's first clear views of these unexplored regions. 

Interactive version of Solar Orbiter's journey

Overview of Solar Orbiter's perihelia and flybys

Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. Its mission is to perform unprecedented close-up observations of the Sun and from high-latitudes, providing the first images of the uncharted polar regions of the Sun, as well as measuring the composition of the solar wind and linking it to its area of origin on the Sun’s surface. Data from the spacecraft’s suite of ten instruments will provide unprecedented insight into how our parent star works in terms of the 11-year solar cycle, and how we can better predict periods of stormy space weather.

Note: original graphic was from January 2020, graphic updated in September 2025

[Image description: Infographic showing the route taken by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft through the inner Solar System. The Sun is shown in the centre, with Earth on the left, Venus above and Mercury above and to the right. Thin lines indicate the planet orbits, while thicker curves show Solar Orbiter's route. In white, the route curves from Earth (launch on 6 February 2020 in GMT, gravity assist manouevre to on 26 November 2021) to Venus. The first close approaches to the Sun are in February 2021 (within half the Sun-Earth distance (0.5 AU)) and October 2022 (within 0.3 AU). Solar Orbiter flies close to Venus on 17 December 2020, 9 August 2021, 4 September 2022, 18 February 2025, 24 December 2026, 18 March 2028, 10 June 2029 and 3 September 2030. These Venus gravity assist manoeuvres tilt the spacecraft orbit out of the ecliptic plane, shown by tilted coloured ovals. The first polar observations are possible from an inclination of 17° in March 2025, 24° in January 2027, 30° in April 2028 and 33° in July 2029. The right side of the graphic lists key mission facts: 42 million km is the minimal distance between the Sun and Solar Orbiter; 16.5 minutes is the maximum time for a radio signal to travel one way between Earth and Solar Orbiter; the spacecraft will orbit the Sun 22 times between 2020 and 2030; November 2021 is the start of the main mission; December 2026 is the expected start of the extended mission.]