Solar Orbiter's first close encounter with the Sun: preparation of the coordinated science campaigns
Abstract
After a Cruise Phase of 21 months, Solar Orbiter entered its first scientific orbit on 27 November 2021 after a Gravity Assist Manoeuvre (GAM) by the Earth. The spacecraft entered a highly elliptical orbit that will bring it up to its first close perihelion on 17 March 2022, at 0.32AU from the Sun. In the following years, further GAMs by Venus will lead it even closer to the Sun and also out of the ecliptic plane. Solar Orbiter's main goal is to study the connection between the solar activity close to the star's surface and its effects as seen in the heliosphere, the bubble-like region of space under the Sun's influence including all solar planets. Therefore, its main scientific goals can only be achieved by coordinated observations of both the 6 remote-sensing telescopes onboard, observing the dynamic Sun, and the 4 in-situ instruments measuring the effects in the solar wind surrounding the spacecraft. This coordination takes careful planning and optimisation of the mission resources, in order to fully exploit the capabilities of this exciting mission. In this contribution, we present the science operations as planned for the first year of Nominal mission phase, i.e. the first two orbits. By the time of the COSPAR meeting, Solar Orbiter will have made its first close encounter and most of the data from the perihelion will have arrived!
- Publication:
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44th COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 16-24 July
- Pub Date:
- July 2022
- Bibcode:
- 2022cosp...44.1537D